Canada’s announcement came during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to China, where he met Prime Minister Li Keqiang to try to strengthen ties before the G20 summit this weekend in Hangzhou.
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Canada is “in a position to help China position itself in a very positive way on the world stage”, Mr. Trudeau said in Beijing, where he arrived on Tuesday afternoon for his fourth visit and first as Prime Minister.
“This year marks 45 years of diplomatic relations between Canada and China”, Trudeau said as he stood beside Li in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, which overlooks Tiananmen Square.
Li said both Canada and China will defend the liberalization of worldwide trade and the promotion of a simpler implementation of investments in the global community.
Justin Trudeau has officially submitted Canada’s application to join a controversial new worldwide infrastructure bank led by China – an initiative the Asian country hopes will help build its economic credibility around the world.
Human rights were also a topic of discussion in Bejing.
Indeed, the Chinese consider the Jean Chretien era of the 1990s as the “golden years” in their business dealings with Canada, he added.
China founded the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to provide other countries in the region access to cash for such areas as transportation, power and telecommunications.
Canada and China have agreed to an extension in the canola “dockage” dispute.
But after a meeting Wednesday in Beijing between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the two countries announced the existing rules would stay in place as they continued to negotiate a long-term solution. While he didn’t directly mention predecessor Stephen Harper, who had sought to stem Chinese influence on the Canadian economy, Trudeau said that overlooking China is a mistake. More than half said they would prefer Canada to hold back from economic opportunities in Asian countries because of human rights concerns.
Canada’s canola farmers are close to harvesting this year’s crop, and Freeland said the government was “working really hard” to keep the China market open. “Until now, the China-Canada relationship has somewhat lacked in stability and regularity”. Ottawa did not immediately specify how much money it would put into the eight-month-old bank.
“We have important relationships with the world’s most powerful nations and have developed a capacity for mutual accommodation and governance”, Morneau said yesterday in Beijing. This is Trudeau ‘s first official visit to China, as both sides seek stronger economic ties.
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The 2014 detention on espionage charges of Canadian citizen Kevin Garratt, who had run a Christian-themed coffee shop near the North Korean border, has also raised tensions.
