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Powerful pair speak the same language

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Vancouver

Asked to say a few words in Chinese, Vancouver's next police chief deferred to the mayor.

It wasn't the first time he had been in the company of a Caucasian who spoke better Chinese than him, Jim Chu admitted wryly.

Currently, the deputy chief in the 1,100-member police force, Mr Chu's appointment as the city's top cop, effective in August, means he will become the first Chinese-Canadian chief of a major municipal police force.

But Mr Chu, 47, who joined the force when he was 19, insists he is an officer first. His ethnicity comes second. In fact, Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan was the first to mention Mr Chu's ethnicity, in remarks on the appointment he delivered in Cantonese. Mr Sullivan learned Cantonese to help him connect with the 30 per cent of Vancouver's population who speak Chinese as a mother tongue.

City insiders have hinted that the mayor, who is also chairman of the Vancouver Police Board, was keen to be at the helm when the city appointed its first police chief with a non-Caucasian background.

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