Miro Cernetig and Joanne Lee-Young, with a file from Derrick Penner

Vancouver Sun

Saturday, September 17, 2005

China's President Hu Jintao arrived in Vancouver Friday, surrounded by the tight security bubble that has isolated him from all but a select few during his 10-day state visit to Canada and the U.S.

Hu was greeted at Vancouver International Airport by political bigwigs including Senator Jack Austin, Industry Minister David Emerson and Premier Gordon Campbell, as well as a group of about 80 Chinese community leaders.

He was then escorted downtown by RCMP and Vancouver police and through the back door of the Westin Bayshore Hotel, allowing him to avoid the sight of Falun Gong and other anti-Communist protesters.

But he also missed out on a warm welcome from about 500 well-wishers from Vancouver's Chinese community, who showed up waving Chinese flags and wearing red paper tags that labelled them as "greeters." Many of them were organized and bused to the hotel by various business, community and social groups.

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Protesters with giant banners and angry words --some of whom drove around in a truck festooned with the slogan "80 Million Died Under Chinese Communist Tyranny" -- mixed with prancing lion-dancers and drum-beaters.

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As has been the case throughout Hu's 10-day tour, a veil of secrecy was placed over most of the Chinese leader's meetings with business and political leaders, including a private meeting with Premier Campbell.

The heavily scripted arrival meant that, in the end, most of the greeters never got a chance to see the man they were waiting for.

Hu was whisked into the hotel where he spent the afternoon in a private meeting with 300 select leaders of the Chinese community. Milling around the hotel's lower ballroom, they waited for a turn at an official photo opportunity with Hu, who sat on a chair as people lined up on a podium behind him.

 

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At night, a private banquet was hosted at the Pan Pacific Hotel by Austin and Emerson. The guest list of about 120 included Chinese delegates as well as Vancouver business leaders such as billionaire entrepreneur Jimmy Pattison, Harmony Airways owner David T.K. Ho and Jim Shepherd, CEO of Canfor Corp., Canada's biggest lumber producer.

Austin opened the event by talking about Canada-China relations rising to a "strategic partnership."

Campbell emphasized the large number of Chinese-Canadians living in Vancouver and stressed that as the closest Canadian province to China, B.C. is a gateway for trade.

He said that Vancouver and Beijing have agreed to cooperate as each city prepares to host the Olympic Games. Earlier in the day, the premier had given Hu a 2010 Vancouver Olympics pin.

Hu spoke briefly, acknowledging the beauty of the city and saying that China was interested in several main trade sectors here: resource development, environmental protection and technology.

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As has been the case throughout Hu's visit, tight security was obvious. In every room that Hu visited, police arrived beforehand with a bomb-sniffing dog and checked the underside of every single chair to ensure no weapons or explosives had been secreted inside.

Police also kept protesters from getting anywhere close to Hu. When one man carrying an anti-Communist placard refused to leave the road, he was quickly arrested, handcuffed and taken away. Police also ordered the crowd outside the Westin Bayshore Hotel to move to the sidewalk when his "greeters" began hitting Falun Gong protesters with their Chinese flags.

Following the dinner, Emerson said in an interview that Hu was aware of the protesters outside.

"He doesn't feel good about it, it was clear, but I explained to him that in Canada, freedom of expression is one of the foundations of our society and he shouldn't treat [protests] as an indication that Canadian society, or British Columbia society, is not friendly towards China," Emerson said.

Emerson added that the discussion was a round about way of addressing the human rights issue.

"In Canada [protesters] have that right, and nobody thinks twice about it.

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