NO ONE SAID REJOINING THE ANGLOSPHERE WOULD BE EASY:

Heading to Canada, freed Chinese dissident held by Thais (GEOFFREY YORK, 3/20/06, Globe and Mail)

Seventeen years after a recklessly courageous anti-Maoist gesture, Lu Decheng has served his prison time and paid his price. But even now, on the verge of freedom in Canada, he cannot escape the long arm of Chinese repression.

The veteran Chinese dissident, who fled to Thailand after spending nine years in a Chinese prison for splashing red paint on the famous Mao portrait in Tiananmen Square, has found himself unexpectedly blocked from refuge in Canada -- even with a Canadian visa in hand. [...]

Mr. Lu's case could become an early test of the foreign policies of the Stephen Harper government in Ottawa, which has pledged to support human rights in China. Under the previous government, many Conservative MPs complained that the Liberals were ignoring human rights in their scramble for Chinese business deals. [...]

NDP foreign affairs critic Alexa McDonough urged Ottawa to take action. "In opposition the Conservatives expressed concerns over Chinese human-rights violations, now in government they have an opportunity to prove those concerns were genuine," she said. "The federal government must convince the Chinese government to allow Mr. Decheng to come to Canada."

But the case might also trigger a new diplomatic clash between Beijing and Ottawa.