Summary of the meeting with the Japanese embassador:
Thanks to Dr. Ih Chu's effort, I was able to penetrate into the Japanese
fortress and delivered the letter of protest directly to the
ambassador. I did not say much because what we wanted was well
expressed in the letter. The ambassador did read the letter but did not
make any comment and just passed it on to the First Secretary who
happens to speak excellent Mandarin to file back in Tokyo. John Franken
presented a gift to the ambassador and did most of the talks. Most of
the talks were just routine and predictable, but two caught my full
attention. Right in the beginning he questioned the Ambassador on the
possibility of Japan already possessing atomic bombs. The ambassador
seems to be caught with surprise and answered in a circular way. The
only answer I would give him some credit is that when he was stationed
in Pakistan, some local politicians asked him why Japan did not make an
atomic bomb and threw it back to USA, he answered it was not Japanese
nature to retaliate. Another issue John raised was the timing of
Koizumi's visit to the war shrine in August 15. The ambassador gave all
kinds of explanations, among one was that Koizumi went there to praise
for peace!
Besides the three of us and the ambassador, three other embassy staff
were present. One was the First Secretary, Tsukasa Hirota, mentioned
before. One was the press secretary whose husband just finished duty in
Iraq. The third one was unknown. They were all taking notes and did
not say anything. I did engage in some mundane talks with Mr. Hirota.
He's young and has worked in China. He is some one we should try to
cultivate because some day he may become an ambassador or more
influential political figure in the future.
The protest letter I sent in was based on Angie's version because we
have to approach the issue as Canadian and brought Harper into the
picture for comparison.
The attached news brief and photo are only meant for the 3 Chinese
dailies: Singtao, Mingpao, and the World Journal. For the rest please
contact Angie Lau:
roar_dragon@yahoo.com
I like to convene a meeting to formalize the ALPHA organisation (Ottawa-史居?)within the
next 2 weeks. Please find a date we can all meet together.
Good night!
King Wan
Ottawa-史居?: Please visit our group site:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alpha-ottawa/