Prime Minister Stephen Harper has spent the week in China signing a flurry of agreements that will encourage greater trade and investment ties between the two countries. Harper’s trip is re-warming relations between Canada and China after several years of frostiness over human rights issues. This time it appears that Harper is seeking a more balanced approach. He pressed Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on Beijing’s decision to block the UN Security Council resolution calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside. But he did this while encouraging a great deal of cooperation between the two countries on economic issues.