China's ambassador to Canada is warning the Harper government against interfering in Chinese affairs with "irresponsible" statements about the unrest in Tibet.

Ambassador Lu Shumin said recent remarks from Canadian officials fail to recognize that China is attempting to restore safety and security in the face of what he called "violent crimes" by separatists in the Tibetan capital city of Lhasa.

"These irresponsible remarks will not do any good to the image of Canada for a champion of law and order," Lu said Friday. He also referred to Canada's own experience with Quebec nationalism.

"Here, you people also have the challenge of separatist forces. You don't want the country to be split. It's the same thing in China, too."

But he said any mischaracterization of the Chinese government response to the Tibetan situation "would be inappropriate and be considered as interference with China's internal affairs. It would also send wrong messages to Tibetan separatist forces and encourage their separatist activities and violence," Lu warned.

His comments came one day after Prime Minister Stephen Harper called on China to "fully respect human rights and peaceful protest" and "show restraint" in Tibet. Harper released his statement through Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre at a pro-Tibet rally on Parliament Hill on Thursday. Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier later called on China to begin talks with Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

China is facing mounting international condemnation of its crackdown against anti-government protests in Tibet and elsewhere. Clashes between demonstrators and Chinese authorities have turned violent, and estimates have put the death toll as high as 100. China's state media say 19 have died. There also been widespread reports of arrests and detentions.

Chinese security forces have moved to curb sympathetic demonstrations in Yunnan, Gansu and Sichuan provinces, all of which have significant Tibetan populations. Chinese embassies around the world also have been targets of demonstrations.

Calls for restraint in Tibet from foreign governments irk China, which considers the matter internal. China contends the demonstrations are criminal acts designed by Tibetan separatists to exploit the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games for political advantage.

"These are not peaceful demonstrations," Lu said. "They are highly violent crime, involving beating, looting, arson, smashing up property and causing serious disruptions." The protests have inflicted "heavy losses of life and property," he said.

Lu repeated Chinese government assertions the demonstrations in Tibet are co-ordinated by the "clique" of the Dalai Lama, who has threatened to resign his position if the violence in Tibet does not end.

Bernier's call for meetings with the Dalai Lama are also sure to annoy the Chinese government. It considers the Buddhist monk a separatist agitator and "splittist" whose public meetings with western leaders - Harper among them - it views as provocation.

"It's not a matter of human rights or expression of political views in a peaceful manner," Lu said. "This is a political scheme aimed at splitting China and achieving the so-called Tibetan independence."

China contends that Tibet is an inalienable part of China. The Communist Chinese government occupied Tibet in 1950, but the region first became a part of China during the Yuan dynasty of the 13th century, said Lu.

Harper inflamed already ailing Sino-Canadian relations last year when he received the Dalai Lama in his office on Parliament Hill, a move China considered offensive.

Harper has vowed he will not let economic interests dictate Canada's policies on human rights in China. Some observers believe China's refusal to designate Canada a government-approved tourist destination is a consequence of the flagging relations.

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People have probably thought about the best way to get money into your RRSP -- but have you thought about the best way to get your money out? If you haven't pondered this issue, you should. Otherwise you could run headfirst into a nasty tax bill.

The people who get swiped the hardest are diligent savers. They're so successful at preparing for retirement that they don't need to tap their RRSPs the moment they hit 65. They just let their money sit there. Then they're surprised to discover that when you turn 71, the government forces you to start withdrawing money from your RRSP, whether you want to or not.

What really stings is that you have to pay taxes on the money you withdraw. If you have a seven-figure RRSP, or if your total income is high because of other investments, you could lose more than 40% of your hard-earned RRSP savings to the tax man. Nothing incenses a 71-year-old more.

The good news is that you can avoid this problem by implementing an RRSP "meltdown strategy" long before you hit your 70s. Here's how.

Filling the tax holes
The best plan is to look for years when your income will be low, especially as you transition out of full-time work. You may even want to deliberately create a couple of such years by retiring a bit early. Those years are your "tax holes," and you can use them to shovel money out of your RRSP at a low tax rate. That doesn't mean that you have to spend the money -- you just want to get it out of your RRSP at the lowest tax rate possible.

Flow through to low taxes
A popular strategy is to use flow-through shares. These are issued by certain mining and petroleum companies and allow you to write off what's called the Canadian Exploration Expense. In some cases, you can get a deduction that's so large, you don't pay taxes on your RRSP withdrawals at all.

A year or so after the deduction has been claimed, you can cash out of your flow-through investment and put the money into dividend-paying stocks, such as those of the Canadian banks. Because of the dividend tax credit, you'll pay less tax on the income you get from yourdividend portfolio than you would pay on money you withdraw from your RRSP.

Pile on the debt
The best way to make this strategy work is to borrow the money in the form of a mortgage on your house, because such loans tend to offer the lowest interest rate. You then invest the borrowed money in a portfolio of dividend-paying stocks, trusts and preferred shares. If you get a yield of 4% or higher on your portfolio, you can usually offset the interest charges. If your portfolio provides a return of just over 7%, you also eliminate the taxes on your RRSP withdrawals.

This plan is a good option for couples who will probably leave a significant sum in their RRSPs when they pass away. In that case you want to get the money out of there, because whatever's left in the RRSP will likely be subject to a tax rate of 40% or more.

Ultimately it's up to you. While paying tax is never pleasant, you can at least take comfort in the thought that a bulging RRSP is one of life's nicer problems.