Prime Minister Stephen Harper was frustrated that his inaugural visit to China could not be combined with another overseas trip, creating a commitment that a U.S. ambassador believed was a nuisance for a man "who generally dislikes foreign travel."

A leaked U.S. diplomatic cable reveals that Harper had wanted to visit China after taking part in the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Singapore in November 2009.

But China did not allow the prime minister to visit until the following month, which meant that Harper had to clear space in his schedule for a separate trip.

According to a cable written by U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson, the prime minister "did not welcome having to make two trips to Asia in less than a month."

Still, Jacobson believed Harper welcomed the political advantages to taking a trip to Beijing.

"Even with modest goals, the PM will welcome the opportunity to showcase to the growing Chinese-Canadian community -- an important potential source of new Conservative voters -- his efforts to cultivate China, as he had done on his November trip to India, another major source of Canadian immigrants," Jacobson wrote in the cable, which was dated Dec. 1, 2009.

Ties between Canada and China appear to have thawed in the aftermath of Harper's December 2009 trip, including the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Sino-Canadian diplomatic relations in 2010.

Harper and Chinese President Hu Jintao have both publicly signalled an interest in improving economic ties between the two countries.

And just two months ago, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird travelled to Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi.

Baird said the relationship between China and Canada has "matured" during the Harper government's reign in Ottawa, with bilateral trade increasing by nearly 57 per cent over the past five-and-a-half years.

Jacobson's cable is one of more than 250,000 diplomatic messages that the controversial WikiLeaks website has been posting online in recent months.

As of Wednesday morning, WikiLeaks has posted 39 pages worth of links to sensitive diplomatic cables that originated from the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa.

One cable posted online in February revealed that former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had complained to the U.S. about the planned withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan.

Another revealed an alleged threat from Moammar Gadhafi to nationalize Petro-Canada operations in Libya two years ago, after he became involved in a diplomatic spat with the Canadian government.

With files from The Canadian Press