TORONTO—When Toronto Mayor David Miller departs for China next weekend, he's likely to be joined by a prominent supporter of the Chinese regime's crackdown in Tibet.
A spokesperson for the mayor said Wednesday he expects Mr. Miller to be joined on the business mission by Ping Tan, a Toronto lawyer and businessman.
The two were pictured together in Chinese-language press announcing the trip on March 20.
A statement sent last week to Chinese-language media from Tan's Toronto law office, Tan & Associates, hailed the regime's response to the recent unrest in Tibet.
The statement, sent by Tan's assistant Lillian Yuan, was attributed to the National Congress of Chinese Canadians (NCCC), a pro-Beijing group of which Tan is the executive chair.
"The Tibetan independence group organized the turmoil in Lhasa on March 14 and viciously killed many people and bit police," the statement said, in Chinese.
The statement did not mention reports of police violence that Tibetan exiles say left upwards of 100 monks and protesters dead and others injured or missing. It said the authorities had used "restraint," and described an "evil" plan by followers of the Dalai Lama to separate China.
"We are pleased that the Chinese government took quick action ... to pacify the riots, regain social order and let all ethnic groups in Tibet continue their stable and safe life."
Mayor Miller's spokesperson, Stuart Green, said the mayor was unaware of the statement from Tan's group. But he did say Tan had an important role in building the ties with a Chinese city the delegation plans to visit.
"He was very instrumental in creating this sister city relationship between Chongqing and Toronto," Mr. Green said.
Green said Toronto has a 22-year sister city relationship with Chongqing, a key reason for the visit.
Chongqing is a large city in Western China, near Tibet and within Sichuan Province, where the recent unrest and repression have occurred.
"This is about city-to-city relationships," Green said, adding that the trip aims to exchange ideas about the environment and stir up business between the two cities. The delegation will also visit Beijing and Shanghai.
Mr. Tan heads the Toronto-Chongqing Friendship Association. According to a Chinese government website, the association was founded after the 1989 massacre of students in Beijing had cooled Canada-China relations. It's purpose: "to restore the two cities' friendship."
And so it has. But the mayor's trip has also stirred controversy, with even members of his own council criticizing the trip's timing.
When asked if the mayor was concerned his upcoming trip could be construed as an endorsement of the recent repression in Tibet, Green said that was not the purpose of the trip.
"We would hope that the mayor's presence is not used for anything other than for what its intention is, and that is to develop city-to-city relationships. The mayor's record on and position and feelings on human rights are unquestionable."
Green also said the mayor's stance on Tibet will be made clear in public statements before his departure.
"We're not going to be left in a position of somehow seeming to have a passive endorsement of anything."
The mayor met with three Tibet activists on Tuesday after criticism that he was ducking the human-rights issue.
Tsering Lama, the national director of Students for a Free Tibet, said the three found the meeting "satisfactory."
"He will be bringing up the human rights situation inside Tibet before he leaves for China and once he's there," Lama said.
Ms. Lama also said the mayor would consider the group's requests, which included pressing the Chinese to allow investigators and journalists into areas where the unrest took place.
Additional reporting by Matthew Little
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