China regularly disrespects Canada’s laws

Patrick Donnelly, Calgary Herald Ever since China's remarkable economic transformation, its 2001 accession to the World Trade Organization and its successful capture of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, China has become a country desperate for international respect as a world power. Over the past several years, in particular, Beijing has prepared extensively for its place on the international stage.

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But with increasing worldwide talk of an Olympic boycott due, in part, to its crack-down in Tibet, the People's Republic of China has embarked on a shrill media campaign to discredit the Dalai Lama and warn off foreign governments from any criticism. Speaking to Canadian journalists in Ottawa recently, and responding to questions about China's treatment of the Tibetan protesters, China's ambassador to Canada, Lu Shumin, stated "Any remarks made accusing China of so-called human rights suppression or things in that direction, I would consider that irresponsible and inappropriate and that it is interference in China's internal affairs." But such thin-skinned reaction is clumsy, disingenuous, or both. The PRC hungers for world recognition, but it clearly doesn't have the slightest clue how to earn it. Similar to an awkward bully who can't understand why brute force doesn't win friends, the regime in Beijing exhibits a stunning disrespect for other countries, particularly Canada. On March 14, a group of pro-Tibetan demonstrators rallied outside the Chinese Consulate in downtown Calgary. As reported by Kevin Libin in the National Post, a few demonstrators, including a 15-year-old Tibetan boy, climbed the consulate's walls and unfurled a "Save Tibet" banner from the building's roof. Almost immediately, Chinese security officials grabbed the boy and hauled him into the basement of the consulate, where he was restrained, taunted and terrorized. The president of the Tibetan Community of Alberta later spoke with the boy and reported that Chinese security officials handcuffed him, "blew smoke in his face and ordered (him) to sign a letter apologizing. . . ." Before the 15-year-old was released, the Chinese reportedly told him that if he was in Tibet, he would have been shot. Another Calgary incident also reveals the Chinese government's disregard for Canadian law through its blatant interference in Canadian capital markets. Back in August 2006, the Alberta Securities Commission settled one of the largest insider-trading investigations in Canadian history; the commission levied a record fine of $7.5 million against an Alberta numbered company (1000128 Alberta Ltd.) ultimately owned and controlled by the Chinese state-owned national oil company, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC). More...

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