Li urged both sides to take a flexible attitude to the canola issue.
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Both sides should be flexible, he said.
Trudeau’s governing Liberals are largely delivering on a pledge to place China at the center of Canada’s trade diplomacy.
A week later, Michael Chan, a Chinese-Canadian who was Ontario’s provincial minister of citizenship, immigration and global trade, defended China’s human rights practices in a column on a Canadian Chinese-language website, 51.ca.
“It’s a big deal for Canada and the Canadian government understands that”, said Freeland, who said she knows of what she speaks: she grew up on a canola farm in northern Alberta, where her father is preparing for this year’s harvest.
On the eve of Justin Trudeau’s high-stakes visit to China, The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, ran an editorial cartoon that pretty much summed up how many Canadians feel about their youthful prime minister’s trip.
Justin Trudeau says China should strengthen its connection to Canada as a way for the rapidly growing superpower to burnish its image on the world stage. Canadian authorities say they are anxious about Garratt’s health, as he has an irregular heartbeat.
But Saint-Jacques, who accompanied Trudeau at meetings Wednesday with Li and later with President Xi Jinping, did share some details of the prime minister’s position on the matter.
Trudeau’s schedule includes meetings with the China Entrepreneur Club, Canada China Business Council, the Chinese firm Fosun, known for its investment in Cirque de Soleil, women entrepreneurs in China and Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba. Ritz offered Trudeau some advice when broaching China’s less-than-stellar human rights record: don’t do it in public.
Chinese officials in Ottowa have said the two countries were having “positive consultations” and the issue could be “resolved properly through joint efforts”.
The Canadian prime minister added that the two countries will cooperate in areas of mutual concern, including climate change, judge training and United Nations peacekeeping.
During a news conference Tuesday in Ottawa, a coalition of advocacy groups including Amnesty International urged Trudeau not to squander the chance to encourage China to take meaningful steps on human rights.
The Garratt family issued a statement Wednesday through their lawyer, saying they were “extremely frustrated” by a lack of progress in securing his release and enabling him to obtain “critically needed medical treatment”.
Pardy said releasing Garratt would be an “easy” gesture for Chinese officials looking to improving the relationship between the two countries.
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In January, Reuters reported that Canada joined the United States, Germany, Japan and the European Union in expressing concern over a new counter-terrorism law in China and two draft laws, on cybersecurity and on the management of global NGOs, respectively. While the prime minister is away, Statistics Canada is expected to report the economy shrank 1.5 percent in the second quarter.
