Curtis: What’s the ultimate objective of Harper’s softer stance on China?

The focus of the Harper Government has always been economic; the positive spin concerning the relative strength of our economy has got the Gov’t re-elected twice. The earlier so-called “hard-stance” towards China was based on two factors which overwelmed the economic….one was coming from opposition when pro-Taiwan, more religious themes tended to dominate party thinking; and second was the fact that the Government drew its early strength from its Alberta roots….thus heavily north-south (Interstate 15!) and not particularly overseas, and particularly, Asia-Pacific, focussed. The Harper Government in now a government in the fullest sense of the word, balancing geographic and public policy interests on every file, including on China.