VANCOUVER—Canada’s new ambassador to China recently married the head of Asia Pacific operations for BlackRock, the world’s largest asset-management firm, raising concerns among former ambassadors and a democracy watchdog that Dominic Barton will encounter conflicts between his personal interests and public role.
The ambassador’s Sept. 4 appointment immediately drew questions from political commentators, who asked whether Barton — a veteran business leader whose posts included a seat on the advisory board for the state-run China Development Bank — is too connected to big corporations working in Asia to represent the full range of Canada’s interests. Others saw his business bona fides as strengths.
