Chinese President Hu Jintao will meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a coming economic summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Vietnam, an official said Thursday.
In a move deemed by many to be a diplomatic snub earlier this week, China abruptly called off a private meeting between the two leaders— apparently because of Canada's criticism of human rights in China, and because of the case of a Chinese-Canadian being held there.
But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a news conference that Mr. Hu would meet Mr. Harper. However, she added that China rejects any criticism of its human rights situation.
"We oppose any country making irresponsible remarks on the internal affairs of China," Ms. Jiang said.
A spokesman for Mr. Harper said Thursday that the Prime Minister remains ready to meet with Mr. Hu.
"We've always maintained our openness in meeting with the Chinese president here in Vietnam. At this point, we don't have it confirmed," said Dimitri Soudas.
Mr. Soudas said the PM and his staff had been in the air flying to Vietenam and only heard of the media reports of a potential meeting upon landing.
On Tuesday, the prime minister's director of communications, Sandra Buckler, told members of the media that the Chinese had declined the meeting.
"They did approach us to see if we'd be interested in meeting and we said yes. They've now declined that offer," she said. "But look, if they want to meet in the future, we're happy to do so, but we'll insist that the meeting cover human rights issues, specifically the Chelil consular case."
Ms. Buckler said in a later conversation that the two leaders could chat, when they and the leaders of other nations took part in the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.
"It's a great opportunity for informal networking, and I'm pretty sure that the PM will meet with all of them."
Mr. Harper had some harsh words for China while talking to reporters en route to the summit Wednesday.
"I think Canadians want us to promote our trade relations worldwide, and we do that, but I don't think Canadians want us to sell out important Canadian values — our belief in democracy, freedom, human rights," Mr. Harper said.
"They don't want us to sell that out to the almighty dollar," he said. "There's always a balance to these things."
Mr. Harper said the Chinese took the "unusual" step of "demanding or asking" for a meeting with him during the APEC summit, and Canada agreed.
But a source in Ottawa familiar with the details said China had simply asked whether the Canadian government would be interested in meeting with Mr. Hu, a subtle overture that is customary practice with some Asian countries.
Mr. Harper and his officials say they were not told explicitly why the Chinese suddenly declined to meet. But the Prime Minister hinted broadly that Beijing had tried to dictate what sorts of subjects would be raised during their tête-à-tête.
Mr. Harper said he wanted to raise human rights and the case of Huseyin Celil, a Chinese-Canadian being imprisoned by China for alleged terrorism links. China does not recognize his Canadian citizenship. Ottawa has been aggressively lobbying for his release.
Hours before Mr. Harper made his comments, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay played down the importance of the cancelled meeting, expressing confidence the two leaders would be able to meet on the sidelines of the summit.
The Conservative government has had strained relations with China since it took power in January. Canada has awarded honorary Canadian citizenship to Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and has publicly accused China of commercial espionage.
Ruling party lawmakers have also been vocal critics of religious persecution in China, particularly against members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
With reports from Brian Laghi in Hanoi
