Signing a FTA with Canada would be a challenge to China, because it will have to bear more pressure than developed countries, said the Chinese top official in a business forum, in which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also participated.
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Despite a broader downturn in global trade, the movement of goods and services between China and Canada bucked that trend.
“If we abolish the death penalty, more innocent people will probably lose their lives”.
In addition to the trade talks, the two leaders pledged to double bilateral trade by 2025 and announced a pair of breakthroughs in agriculture.
On Thursday in Ottawa, Trudeau said the countries are launching exploratory talks towards a free trade agreement. Quan said a one on one deal will be best since China has already got trade deals with countries like Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.
The Canadian leader ruled out any extraditions to countries where those convicted would face the death penalty.
“We’ve found a predictable, science-based and stable solution to ensure access to the Chinese market by Canadian canola exporters through early 2020”, Trudeau said.
Canada’s Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, elected past year, is trying to improve ties and increase trade with the world’s second-largest economy after a decade of rocky relations under his Conservative predecessor.
“For China, we have pretty sufficient amount of time to increase the quality of exports to China”, Li said through an interpreter.
Li first told reporters during last month during the prime minister’s own visit to China that the two countries had embarked on a feasibility study of a free trade deal.
It was announced that Canadian canola will continue to be exported to China under the current level of dockage, while additional disease research is conducted.
China has embraced Trudeau in part because of 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.
“People in Alberta are struggling and losing their homes, savings and livelihoods, but the prime minister is more concerned with making sure his friends are compensated”, Conservative MP Blaine Calkins said Wednesday in question period.
Mr. Trudeau said the government understood the difficulties in negotiating an extradition treaty with China. “We need to always bear in mind the larger picture of our relations and we need to recognize that our common interests far outweigh our differences’. With our Chinese partners, like Premier Li, we’ll bring stability and regularity back to the table”, he said.
Members of Falun Gong rally on Parliament Hill in protest of what they say are state-led mass killings of Falun Gong practitioners for their organs, during an official visit of China’s Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016 in Ottawa.
“I’m pleased to welcome you here to Canada and look forward to our working together”.
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Beijing, meanwhile, just prior to Li’s visit released a Canadian national held since 2014 on espionage charges.
