while ROME BURNS
Chinese President Visits Canada Intent on Oil, Energy Ties; Washington Looks On
By Beth Duff-Brown Associated Press Writer
Published: Sep 8, 2005
TORONTO (AP) - Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Canada this week, at a time when Beijing is boosting investments in Canadian oil and natural resources, and Washington and Ottawa continue to snipe over lumber tariffs.
Hu arrives in Canada on Thursday for his first state visit, celebrating 35 years of diplomatic ties and rapidly expanding trade and energy agreements with Canada.
China is Canada's second-largest trading partner, after the United States, and Ottawa and Beijing conducted some $30 billion worth of trade last year. With the world's fastest growing economy and rapid urbanization, the Chinese are hungry for more oil and natural resources - and Canada has those, in abundance.
Washington will closely eye the official visit, which includes meetings with Prime Minister Paul Martin and federal, provincial and business leaders in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. Hu was supposed to meet President Bush at the White House next week, but postponed the visit after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast.
The United States relies on Canada for some 17 percent of its oil and energy and is well aware that China is boosting investments in Canadian oil and natural resources. At the same time, Washington and Ottawa, the world's largest trading partners, continue to snipe over lumber tariffs and question each other's long-term defense policies.
"What I worry about is that the United States is making it easy for China; that in one way or another the United States is screwing up in its relationship with Canada," said Richard C. Bush, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
"And that makes it very easy for Hu Jintao to walk in and say, 'Hi, I'm from China and we want to be your friend. And by the way, I want to buy your oil and your minerals and let's not worry about your neighbor next door. We've both got problems with them, so let's talk.'"
Vice President Dick Cheney's national energy policy report in 2001 noted the importance of Canada's oil sands to U.S. energy security. But while Americans blocked a bid by China to buy Unocal Corp., claiming it could threaten U.S. national security, Canadians support potential oil deals with China.
The state-controlled China National Petroleum Corp. announced last month it would pay $4.2 billion for Canada-based PetroKazakhstan Inc. In April, CNOOC bought nearly 17 percent of Calgary-based MEG Energy Corp.
Martin, meanwhile, is hosting Hu at a state banquet in Ottawa on Thursday. Hu will also attend a banquet and give a speech at the Canada China Business Council in Toronto on Saturday and visit Niagara Falls on a personal visit.
Hu then heads to Mexico on Sunday. He intends to meet with President Bush on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York next week before returning to Vancouver Sept. 16 for two days of meetings and another banquet hosted by Martin.