The long arm of Beijing in Canada

A Falun Gong protester gets shot at and beaten up by three attackers outside of a a foreign embassy. Not exactly surprising stuff, except that the building was the Chinese consulate in Vancouver.

Falun Gong protesters have held a permanent vigil to protest human rights violations against their group outside the embassy for six years. Despite objections from Mayor Sam Sullivan over a year ago, the protest still stands. Has the Chinese government's patience finally been exhausted?

If not, what other explanation could there be? It's not like the victim was strutting down Granville Street around midnight, gawking at the testosterone and alcohol-fueled goons who have taken over our entertainment district.

One niggling question is why the mainstream media hasn't picked up on this incident yet. It has been four days since the assault.

The Epoch Times' editorial line is unabashedly anti-Communist China and pro-Falun Gong, so one has to read even their straight-up news articles like the one reporting this incident with a skeptical eye. But why isn't the Vancouver Sun, the Province or even the Georgia Straight reporting an assault outside a foreign embassy involving a gun?

Just asking.

Hong Kong, Vancouver and the love of my life

Even before the United Kingdom handed Hong Kong back to China ten years ago, jittery residents of that plucky capitalist (but by no means democratic) outpost packed up and set up new digs on the other side of the Pacific Rim in Vancouver.

I'm glad they did. For one, if they hadn't, I never would have met my wife. On a less selfish note, her family was part of the wave of immigration by educated, hard-working, entrepreneurial people who have helped transform Vancouver from a sleepy Victorian-Canadian burgh into a thriving multicultural metropolis.

Meanwhile, it seems as though everyone's predictions about the fall of Hong Kong following the handover are best extremely premature and at worst just plain wrong. The one country, two systems arrangement is working out pretty well. Hong Kong's democrats aren't any closer to electing their local representatives ten years on, but commentators likely would have said the same thing if the Brits had somehow extended their stay. Meanwhile, its economy is still humming along. Perhaps it isn't quite the land of opportunity it was before, but that seems to have more to do with the low cost of labor in the mainland than any sort of communist regulations.

In any case, China's loss has absolutely been Canada's gain. As we celebrated the 140th birthday of the Canadian nation on the west coast, we're reminded once again of how great this country really is, thanks to people from across the ocean who have chosen to be a part of it.

Taiwan and Costa Rica: With friends like these...

China's generals might as well throw out their invasion plans for Taiwan. The way things are going, they're not going to need them.

The breakaway island republic in the China Sea had a setback this week as Costa Rica withdrew from their "alliance". This same week, Canada has gone on the offensive about human rights and democracy in the region. Not good timing, it seems.

Taiwan's foreign policy would be amusing if it wasn't such a tragic failure. Most UN-member countries simply ignore the tiny island out of deference to the "other" China. Taiwan's fragile democracy is forced to essentially bribe developing countries in return for diplomatic recognition. Clearly, as China moves into the top spot in the world economy, that strategy is no longer viable.

Costa Rica's president didn't even try to pretend the move was about higher principles.

Costa Rican President and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias played down claims that China is a human rights violator. "We had relations with a dictator such as Chile's during the (Augusto) Pinochet regime and no one said anything."

Oh! Well, that makes it okay, then.

Stocks tumble, just in time for tax season

The financial market just had it's worst day since 9/11, just in time to smack everyone who topped up their retirement savings plan for tax season.

I know the market fundamentals look okay. And I know that investing for the long term, I can expect my capital to grow in spite of temporary setbacks.

But the timing on this one is awful.

The worst of it is (at least for Canadian investors) that our country, and in particular my region of the country, is doing pretty well, buoyed by high commodity prices. We may be hewers of wood and drawers of water - and drillers of oil - but right now that's not such a terrible gig.

The mantra to diversify is backfiring big this time. We put some of our hard-won coin into foreign markets, only to see it squandered as economically retarded powerhouses, the USA and China, bring everyone down with them.