China is now Canada’s second largest trading partner.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement at the start of a visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Ottawa Thursday.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang landed in Ottawa late Wednesday, September 21, to meet with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau and press for an extradition treaty.
Canada and China say they will gauge the possibility of free-trade talks and deepen commercial links, in another sign the two countries are trying to rejuvenate ties.
“We are very pleased about the nature and the stability we have been able to bring to the Canada-China relationship”, said Trudeau at the joint press conference.
The dispute centres on the level of foreign material such as weeds, other crops and detritus that should be considered acceptable in Canada’s canola exports to China.
Upon arriving in Canada, the Chinese leader pointed out that the exchange of visits by the two States’ prime ministers in less than one month shows how the two nations value bilateral relations.
“On economic and trade relations, we reached a lot of new agreements, and we stand ready to work with Canada to explore and to study how we can work to set up a free-trade area”, he said. “We also have some degree of uncertainty in Canada over what sort of a relationship we want to have with China”.
In his new role, Jean is charged with delivering on the new high-level security dialogue Trudeau established with Beijing on his recent visit, a dialogue that includes establishing a controversial extradition treaty. It’s the first official visit of a Chinese premier in 13 years. But Canada’s ambassador to China later called that premature, citing issues including labour, the environment and Chinese state-owned enterprises.
“It’s impossible to imagine how you would have an extradition treaty that would line up with Canada’s obligations to not send people to face the death penalty”, Neve said in an interview.
“They reportedly also used some of the money to purchase a four-bedroom, gray clapboard house with a two-car garage in Newcastle, a suburb of Seattle, which neighbors say sold for more than a half-million dollars”.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Canada will address China’s use of the death penalty during future negotiations.
In 2006, Spain became the first European country to ratify an extradition agreement with China, according to Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor.
Canada’s Liberal government, which came to power last fall, has pledged to improve dialogue with China, something Mr. Trudeau says Canada’s previous Conservative government failed to cultivate.
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“I look forward to continuing the discussions on challenging issues, but also on all the opportunities that we know there are to create benefits for citizens of both of our countries”, he said.
