As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives in China this week looking for a “reset” in Canada’s relationship with Beijing, it’s good to see the Chinese government holding out a small but significant olive branch.
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He also said Canada can play a key role in dealing with anxiety around the world about trade and China, in general.
Trudeau’s job, however, won’t be easy as ties between the two countries have been strained since 2012, when the Canadian government, led by Stephen Harper, imposed measures to restrict acquisition of oil sand companies after China National OffShore Oil Corp. agreed to purchase Canada’s Nexen.
At a mid-morning press conference, the group will release an open letter “documenting serious human rights concerns and laying out recommendations for human rights reforms in China”, and likely reiterate their call for Trudeau to “press for freedom for thirteen prisoners”.
Gerry Ritz, a former agriculture minister, offered Trudeau some advice when broaching China’s less-than-stellar human rights record: “don’t do it in public”, the Toronto Star reports. We’ll get an idea this week whether the Trudeau government is truly committed to pressing Beijing on human rights, and whether China’s tough, brash government really has the self-confidence to listen.
Nor has the country forgotten how Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, was among the first western leaders to recognize “new China” when he established diplomatic ties in 1970, later becoming the first Canadian PM to travel there in 1973. Tentative trade talks between China and Canada collapsed after the rules were introduced. Between Aug. 30 and September 7, he will make stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Hong Kong.
Trudeau and many business leaders argue that Canada has much to gain from closer economic ties with a rapidly growing economy and middle class in China, which is already Canada’s second-largest trading partner. “China blames his predecessor for the current poor relations but still believes Trudeau could bring changes”. While the prime minister is away, Statistics Canada is expected to report the economy shrank 1.5 percent in the second quarter.
No free trade deal with China? The prime minister has said there’s no evidence to support the allegations.
“We expect the prime minister to make representations on behalf of Canada’s canola industry to the highest levels of the Chinese governmen”, Ritz said in a statement. Trudeau also hosted Wang in Ottawa on the heels of the G-7 summit that riled China, one Trudeau preceded with a state visit to Japan, a regional rival. The hard reality, though, is that China remains a very hard nut to crack.
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Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said last week that relations between the two nations could not deepen until the matter was resolved.
