Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly in China on unannounced visit
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is in China on an unannounced visit to thaw relations between the two countries, the first such face-to-face talks in Beijing by a Canadian foreign minister in nearly seven years.
Joly will be the most senior Canadian official to visit China since 2017 — aimed at repairing deteriorating ties between Ottawa and Beijing after two Canadians were detained in China, which Canada maintains were arbitrary, and recent reports of alleged Chinese political interference in this country.
She is in China at Wang Yi’s invitation, the Chinese foreign ministry said. Wang is China’s foreign minister and a director of the all-powerful Communist Party of China’s Central Committee.
The two will meet on Friday.
In a statement, Joly’s office says the ministers will “discuss possible avenues for collaboration on common challenges” and will also “exchange views on concrete ways to enhance the already deep ties between the people of Canada and China.”
“As the world faces increasingly complex and intersecting global issues, Canada is committed to engaging pragmatically with a wide range of countries to advance our national interests and uphold our values,” Joly said in a statement provided by her office. “As described in Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, we must maintain open lines of communication and use diplomacy to challenge where we ought to, while seeking co-operation in areas that matter most to Canadians.
“I look forward to a productive meeting,” the statement concludes.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told journalists in his regular briefing Thursday that Joly and Wang “will have in-depth communication on China-Canada relations and issues of common concern to promote the improvement and development of bilateral relations.”
This is Joly’s first trip to this country since her appointment as foreign minister in October 2021. Joly last met her Chinese counterpart in February, on the sidelines of a global security conference in Munich.
Canada’s relationship with China entered a deep freeze following Beijing’s detention of Canadian citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in December 2018. Their arrests were widely seen as retaliation for the Vancouver arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, at the behest of the U.S. to face fraud charges related to American sanctions against Iran.
Although all three were released in 2021, tensions continue, with Canada’s spy agency saying it believes the Chinese government interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
More recently, Canada said it is considering a plan for potential tariffs to protect Canada’s electric vehicle supply chain from what the Trudeau government calls unfair Chinese competition.
Despite that, when Joly and Wang met in February in Germany, the two foreign ministers signaled the thaw in diplomatic ties meant a path forward for negotiations over the most sensitive issues dividing the two countries.
“It is in the fundamental interests of both countries to promote the stabilization of China-Canada relations from further deterioration and achieve the improvement and development of bilateral relations,” a readout — or summary — of the meeting released by China’s foreign ministry read at the time, marking a notable shift in tone given the overt animosity in the bilateral relationship over the past six or so years.
“The economies of China and Canada are highly complementary and there is no conflict of fundamental interests between the two sides. The two sides are not rivals, let alone enemies, and should be partners of cooperation.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last visited China in December 2017, prior to the detention of the “two Michaels.” The last Canadian foreign affairs minister visit to China happened earlier that same year.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks about Canada-China relations ahead of his visit to China.
Friday’s high-level visit by Joly comes just weeks after China’s new top envoy began his post in Ottawa. The new Chinese Ambassador to Canada Wang Di — who officially began on June 26 — said at the time of his appointment that “China attaches importance to its relations with Canada.”
The ambassador is quoted as saying that China “stands ready to work with Canada to promote healthy and stable development of the bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect, seeking common ground while putting aside differences and win-win co-operation,” in a statement released by the embassy.
