Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R front) meets with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 30, 2016.
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By joining, Canada would add its name to the list of 57 other member countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and South Korea, which signed on previous year in the face of opposition from the United States.
Japan is now its only ally that has yet to apply to join the AIIB.
At an event in Beijing, Trudeau said he wants to renew relations with China and that any economic strategy that ignores it or treats it less than critically important is irresponsible.
Human rights: While many would like to see Trudeau take a stand against China’s human-rights record, it’s a touchy subject and one that will be hard for him to broach while negotiating economic issues. The Canadian Prime Minister on Wednesday would say only that he had set the groundwork for the two sides to be “frank and open about concerns, questions and issues”. Canadian negotiators continue to discuss canola in Beijing this week, and “we hope and believe it can be concluded in the coming days and weeks”, Ms. Freeland said.
The two countries disagree on the level of “dockage” – foreign material such as weeds, other crops and detritus – that should be considered acceptable in Canada’s canola exports to China.
Spies: Trudeau is expected to bring up Kevin Garratt, a Canadian missionary who was charged with espionage last January and is held in prison in China.
When Trudeau met Chinese entrepreneurs in Beijing on Tuesday, he assured them that Canadian agricultural products were safe.
At the same time, Chinese state media reprised the rebuke delivered in Canada earlier this year by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, when he berated a reporter for asking about China’s human rights.
But he and International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland came to no permanent solution with China, leaving Ms. Freeland to plead with her Chinese counterparts for a long-term solution by September 21, when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives in Canada for an official visit.
Trudeau has indicated in the past that there’s no evidence to support the accusations against Garratt, though he did not say what China has told him about Garratt’s case.
The Canadian mission also came under fire from the family of Kevin Garratt, who said in a statement it is “extremely frustrated and disappointed at the lack of progress”. “I’m happy to extending that effort now”, he said.
Trudeau is making his first visit to China since becoming prime minister in November after an upset election win.
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Trudeau benefits from the association with his father, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who in 1970 became one of the first Western leaders to establish diplomatic relations with Communist China.
