The proper greeting for China’s Communist Party chief was the one issued by Tibetan activists in Washington, DC, who made their presence and their grievances known with a visible display of free speech and peaceable assembly. “Free Tibet” has been a cliche of celebrity activism for so long that it’s much too easy to ignore the reality that the Tibet is a nation under occupation and has been for three-quarters of a century.
■ It was entirely inappropriate to give President Xi the literal red-carpet treatment for a meeting that had no compelling reason to occur. Nothing in the government’s own account of the meetings was substantial enough to rise beyond what could have been conducted over a telephone call.
■ What point is pageantry for an adversary when so many of our friends and allies are feeling rebuffed and rejected? It’s so bad that Canadians are in love with the idea of taking up “associate membership” with the European Union.
■ Red carpets should line routes like the Gordie Howe Bridge, not the landing path for an authoritarian who uses words to drive wedges between the US and its closest friends.