By COLIN McCLELLAND
TORONTO – As Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Canada Wednesday – International Human Rights Day – groups supporting Tibetan and Taiwanese democracy and improved human rights urged Canada’s incoming leader to press their concerns.
The three-day Canadian visit follows stops in the United States, where President Bush warned he opposes “any unilateral decision by either China or Taiwan to change the status quo” in the delicate China-Taiwan relationship.
Wen was scheduled to meet retiring Prime Minister Jean Chretien on his last full working day Thursday before meeting Chretien’s successor, Paul Martin. Martin replaces Chretien on Friday.
Amnesty International, the Canada Tibet Committee, a group promoting Tibetan autonomy, and the quasi-religious group Falun Gong said they would rally at Wen’s appearances in the capital.
Jason Wan, spokesman for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada, a Taiwanese government agency, said he hoped Canada’s support for democracy in the world would not bypass the island nation.
“We hope that the Canadian prime minister will urge China to respect the democratic rights of the Taiwanese people,” Wan said.
Canada has a one-China policy and does not formally recognize Taiwan. Ottawa gives more government aid to Beijing than anywhere else, including $46 million in 2001-2002, a government official said.
Trade tops the visit’s agenda, with Chretien and Wen set to sign nine agreements, including provisions for wheat and livestock sales.
China is Canada’s third largest trading partner after the United States and Japan. Canadian exports to China jumped from $2 billion in 1999 to $3 billion in 2002.
After the Chinese communist revolution in 1949, the new regime stopped short of invading Taiwan, but its army did annex the mountainous region of Tibet and its six million people.
Canada, which is home to about 3,000 Tibetans, does not recognize Tibet’s government in exile led by the Dalai Lama.
Thubten Samdup, president of the Canada Tibet Committee, wants Ottawa to act as a middleman to peacefully negotiate Tibetan autonomy.
“We would like to see Canada act the role of an honest broker at an international conference,” Samdup said.
Amnesty International said it wanted to highlight China’s poor human rights record for Wen, especially an increase in executions.
“If he’s really serious about wanting to improve the human rights situation in China then he’ll listen to these things and then go home and perhaps do something about it,” said Carole Channer, who monitors China for Amnesty International Canada.
Jason Loftus, a promoter of Falun Gong, a quasi-religion outlawed in China, said he hoped Ottawa would “give a message to the premier while he’s here, which is that these are problems that you have to address.”
