Chinese President, Xi Jinping, on Friday extended an invitation to Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, to visit China, marking the first formal meeting between leaders of both nations since 2017.
The talks came ahead of Xi’s first meeting with Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.
Relations between China and Canada have been frosty in recent years, arguably among the most strained of any Western nation’s ties with Beijing.
However, both countries are also facing pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade offensive, even after Xi and Trump reached an agreement a day earlier to ease some of the tensions.
“Recently, with the joint efforts of both sides, China-Canada relations have shown a recovery toward a trend of positive development,” Xi told Carney during their meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea, as he invited the Canadian leader to visit China.
“China is willing to work with Canada to bring China-Canada relations back to the right track,” Xi added.
“In recent years, we have not been as engaged,” Carney replied, accepting Xi’s invitation.
The Canadian leader emphasized the importance of “constructive and pragmatic dialogue” in addressing their “current issues,” adding that such dialogue could “help build a more sustainable, inclusive international system.”
Diplomatic ties between Ottawa and Beijing plunged in 2018 after Canada detained a top Chinese telecom executive on a U.S. extradition request, prompting China to arrest two Canadians on espionage charges in retaliation.
Tensions flared again this year when Carney’s government announced a 25 percent tariff on steel imports containing Chinese metal in July.
Beijing responded a month later by imposing a steep 75.8 percent temporary customs duty on Canadian canola imports.
Canola, one of Canada’s major agricultural exports, is a vital ingredient in cooking oil, livestock feed, and biodiesel production.
Despite their disputes, both China and Canada have been hit hard by Trump’s aggressive global trade measures. On Thursday,
Trump revealed that he would cut fentanyl-related tariffs on China to 10 percent, while Xi pledged to continue supplying rare earth minerals and increase U.S. soybean imports.
However, the average American tariff on Chinese imports still stands at 47 percent, according to Trump.
On Saturday, Trump announced a further escalation against Canada, saying he would raise tariffs on Canadian goods by another 10 percent and suspend all trade negotiations.
He accused Canada of running a “fake” anti-tariff advertising campaign that featured late former president Ronald Reagan.
Addressing the APEC forum, Carney reflected on the shifting global trade order. “(The) old world of steady expansion of rules-based liberalised trade and investment, a world on which so much of our nations’ prosperity, very much Canada’s included, (is based), that world is gone,” he said.
He also highlighted Canada’s ambitions to become an “energy superpower” and a key supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asian markets.
– Japan –
Later, Xi held his first meeting with Japan’s recently appointed prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, the first woman to hold the post. According to Chinese state media, Xi said China was prepared to work with Japan toward “constructive, stable bilateral ties that meet requirements of [the] new era.”
Takaichi, a known China skeptic and frequent visitor to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine honoring Japan’s war dead, has recently softened her tone.
Yet, in her first policy address last week, she maintained that the military activities of China, North Korea, and Russia “have become a grave concern.”
She announced that Japan would allocate two percent of its GDP to defense spending this fiscal year, reaching its target two years ahead of schedule, a move criticized by Beijing.
Takaichi is also a strong supporter of Taiwan and advocates for closer security cooperation with the self-ruled island.
Japanese media reported that she planned to raise several sensitive issues during her meeting with Xi, including China’s activities around the disputed Senkaku Islands (called Diaoyu Islands by China), the detention of Japanese nationals in China, and the safety of Japanese citizens living there.
Her opening remarks, however, focused on easing “concerns” and enhancing “mutual understanding and cooperation.”
Japan’s business community, meanwhile, remains eager to ensure a continued supply of rare earths from China, a critical resource that has become a bargaining chip in Xi’s trade battles with Trump.
“It could be a frosty get-to-know-you meeting as Xi Jinping has not sent a congratulatory message to Takaichi, wary of her reputation as a China hawk,” said Yee Kuang Heng, a professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy, in an interview with AFP.
“Overall though, stability is a shared priority,” Heng added.
