Like any smart tourist, Stephen Harper spent his first morning in Beijing at the stunning Temple of Heaven, its main structure a magnificent sight etched against one of those perfect blue skies that authorities in the smog-encrusted lair of Mao conjure up every now and then for visiting dignitaries.Even better for our man in China, just a few Tiananmen Square tank lengths away is the ever-popular Echo Wall, not to be confused, of course, with that other great wall.
This one is a circular, brick edifice that was built, for reasons unknown, so that a person can whisper something along one side of the wall and have it heard clear as a bell by someone a fair distance away. So they say …
Of course, this may be apocryphal, but I have it on some authority that this is where Ha Po (as the PM is known in the People’s Republic) chose to raise the ticklish issue of human rights, which, as you know, he would never sell out for “the almighty petro-dollar.”
Mr. Harper faced the Echo Wall and said in a low voice: “Canada is concerned about the lack of human rights in China.”
A hundred metres distant, Chinese President Hu Jintao shouted back: “What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.”
And that was that.
Original Article
Source: Globe
Author: Rod Mickleburgh
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