Chinese officials asked Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to meet with their President Hu Jintao at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, and then publicly called the whole thing off without explanation. How undiplomatic can you get!

China has delivered a diplomatic snub to the Canadian government by rejecting a meeting between its president and Prime Minister Stephen Harper as relations between the two countries continue to sour.
. . .
It would have been the first major get-together between the two men, although they spoke briefly last summer at a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized countries.

However, the Prime Minister's spokesperson, Sandra Buckler, said yesterday the Chinese have decided not to pursue the meeting. She said China had requested the meeting, and Mr. Harper agreed.
. . .
Ms. Buckler wouldn't say whether Canada considers the rejection an insult and did not say why the Chinese said no. Chinese Embassy officials were not available for comment.

Although Ms Buckler declined to characterise the slap in the face rebuff as an insult, other experts are not so reticent.

“It's more than a snub,” said Fen Hampson, head of Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. “It's a very direct ‘We don't have time for you at this moment.'”

Mr. Hampson said he was particularly surprised that the Chinese backed out, given it was they who had requested the tête-à-tête.

What has our country done to deserve this?  The only possibility mentioned in the Globe and Mail news story is that Canada has recently raised "controversial" human rights issues.  On the agenda of any formal meeting between the two leaders, moreover, would be the case of Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil, now being held in Chinese jail and denied contact with consular officials.

But Canadian capitalists aren't interested in that stuff.

A number of Canadian businesses have expressed concern to the Prime Minister's Office about the lack of engagement with China.

China initiates a meeting and then cancels it in a way obviously intended to embarrass Canada—and all because Canada won't ignore China's abysmal human rights record.  I'd say Canada comes away from China's little hissy-fit smelling like a rose.

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UPDATE (16 Nov.): The meeting is on again, but China warns Canada not to make any "irresponsible remarks on the internal affairs of China".  So, responsible remarks on China's "internal affairs" are OK, then?  h/t: Steve Janke.