Vancouver Sun: Hu lands in B.C. to cheers and jeers [Excerpts]
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. [...] 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. [...] 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. Â [...] 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. [...] 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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