Throwing Bricks

The Government of Canada's diplomatic relationship with its Chinese counterpart has been the headline story in this country for the better part of a week now. An on again off again meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper (no he doesn't play goal for Newcastle United) with President Hu Jintao at the APEC summit in Hanoi had pundits describing the total uncertainty of what was going on as a major slap in the face to the waffling Canadians. It has been a communications disaster. Apparently our insistence at bringing up human rights issues in a public manner is abrasive. Even the Chinese Ambassador threw a hiffy fit recently at our Foreign Affairs Committee meeting when Falun Gong came up. So we don't know how to manage the US relationship or that with China. But I hear it on good authority that our relations with Vanuatu are on the up and up.