Luo Zhaohui, China’s ambassador to Canada, maintained that Canada’s approach to talks that commenced seven years ago over Chinese concerns about rules for the canola shipments has been inflexible and unfair.
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For its part, China has been urging Canada to negotiate a free trade agreement.
China has said the tougher import rules were necessary to prevent the spread of blackleg disease from Canadian canola into Chinese crops of rapeseed, another name for the agricultural commodity.
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.
“We are at a time where worldwide trade and global investment often get looked through a populous lens as being something that is bad”, said Trudeau, mentioning Britain’s referendum on an exit from the European Union and the polarizing politics seen in this year’s U.S. presidential election cycle.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang promised on Wednesday that a Canadian man held in China for two years on suspicion of spying would be treated humanely and lawfully, but the man’s family expressed frustration and called for his release.
He mentioned that although China itself is a large canola producer, it has no plans to keep out other exporters.
“For these cases, the departments of both sides will continue to remain in touch and we believe it’s essential for our two countries to remove disturbances and work together to uphold the other interests of China-Canada relations”.
Negotiating teams from the two countries were now meeting in Beijing, Canada’s Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said.
International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is part of the delegation travelling with Trudeau, had earlier said the issue is of “absolute importance” to the Canada-Chinese trade relationship. A Canadian official later said the two counties have been engaged in ongoing technical discussions on free trade, but stressed that there are no negotiations under way at this point. China has said it would introduce a new safety limit on foreign matter in Canadian canola imports of 1 percent from the current 2.5 percent.
Both sides should be flexible, he said.
“Canada is always looking for ways to create hope and opportunity for our middle class as well as for people around the world”, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said in a statement issued in Beijing.
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A boy looks up as he walks past the closed coffee shop owned by Canadian couple Kevin Garratt and Julia Dawn Garratt in Dandong, Liaoning province, China.
