Pursuing China: Memoir of a Beaver Liaison Officer by Brian L. Evans

Author:Brian L. Evans [Evans, Brian L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, General, Personal Memoirs, Biography & Autobiography, Political Science, Asia, Educators, History, Political, China, Canada
ISBN: 9780888647894
Google: eBu_DwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 13211617
Publisher: University of Alberta
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

OPENING DOORS IN CHINA

Late in 1970, a team under the direction of John Fraser, who was in charge of the China desk in the Department of External Affairs, and a former high commissioner to Hong Kong, went to Beijing to prepare for the opening of a Canadian embassy in 1971. Canada was offered a small vacant embassy at 571 San Li tun. It was an unfortunate number given the political events in China that spring. A military uprising called Project 571 was planned for May and its code name was Wu Chi I (571), the sound of which can mean “May 1971” or “a military uprising.” Consequently, shipments destined for the Canadian Embassy came under suspicion and were subject to delays. Nevertheless, the embassy was in order for the first ambassador, Ralph Edgar Collins, a senior member of External Affairs, the son of Chinese missionaries, and a graduate of the University of Alberta, to assume his tenure beginning April 8, 1971.7 After Collins retired a little more than a year later in June 1972, John Small, another “mish kid,” succeeded him.8

In July 1973, almost a year to the month that Small was appointed as ambassador, I was appointed to the embassy for a year as part of an experiment. Because the Department of External Affairs did not have enough officers with China expertise, it opted to supplement the staff of the new embassy with a Canadian academic, trained in Chinese studies, to serve as the cultural officer. Ideally, the academic would spend half of their time dealing with embassy affairs and the other half on academic research and study. A diplomatic appointment was a boon to a Canadian academic because it provided unprecedented access to China at a time when academic exchanges did not exist and visas to study in China were very difficult to obtain. This experiment lasted for thirty years until the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade felt that it had an ample number of diplomats with China experience, and academics were increasingly reluctant to take up the position because direct access to China for full-time research was easy. The title of the academic portion of the job was sinologist-in-residence. The holder was assigned a diplomatic rank in keeping with their experience. The first to serve was Professor William Saywell of the University of Toronto. He was a specialist in modern China and a catalyst in the development of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto and across Canada. He took up the position of Sinologist-in-residence and First Secretary in Charge of Cultural Affairs in July 1972. His appointment was for one year. In the early winter of 1972–1973, the Department of External Affairs began looking for recruits to replace him. I was asked to apply, and to my surprise and delight I was selected. It was said among colleagues in Toronto that it was because I was from the West. This may be partly true. Within the embassy I found an unconscious bias in

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