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Originally Posted by PDLM  It seems to me that the message from China is quite clear: "if you want to visit or do business in our country then you do it on our terms; when the rest of the world stops trying to interfere in our internal affairs and stops disrupting our Olympic preparations then business as normal will resume. Your choice." |
I definitely think that criticism and hectoring of China by other nations including my own, Canada, have factored into this decision equal to, or more than, their concern for problems before and during the Olympics.
It is amateur hour with many foreign governments including my own - Canada - constantly telling China what they should do not to mention their continuous accusations of Chinese spies. We did better under earlier regimes where the goal was to build trade and cultural relations as a way to break down barriers and build a better world.
I heard about 8 months ago that Canada had become one of the hardest countries for mainland Chinese to get into recently - even to courses at places like UBC which designs them for Chinese students! This was told to an applicant in China by their advisor. The person is in the 4 month course now but the time to get to yes was quite long.
Countries fail to grasp - at times - this BBC statement on the outrage ahead of President Clinton's 9 China trip in his second term:
"Every fourth person in the world lives in China, it is potentially the United States' most important trading partner, and the US can't afford to jeopardise such an important relationship."
What is bad is that people who need to cross the border for work/business are being screwed by this policy which is not good for anyone.
