GYEONGJU, South Korea: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Saturday (Nov 1) called talks with China’s leader Xi Jinping a “turning point” in relations, adding he had raised tricky topics like foreign interference with Beijing.
Carney also confirmed from the APEC summit in South Korea that he had apologised to Donald Trump over an anti-tariff ad campaign that prompted the US president to raise tariffs on Canada.
Canada’s relations with China have been among the worst of any Western nation but on Friday Carney and Xi held the first formal talks between the countries’ leaders since 2017, as both manage Trump’s trade onslaught.
“This meeting marked a turning point in our bilateral relationship. We have now unlocked a path forward,” Carney told reporters.
Xi also invited Carney to visit China.
A Canadian statement said that the leaders discussed “respective sensitivities regarding issues including agriculture and agri-food products, such as canola, as well as seafood and electric vehicles”.
Carney said that he brought up alleged Chinese influence in Canadian elections, saying that it was “important to have that discussion” in order to get relations “back on track”.
Ties fell into a deep freeze in 2018 after the arrest of a senior Chinese telecom executive on a US warrant in Vancouver and China’s retaliatory detention of two Canadians on espionage charges.
Ottawa and Beijing have since engaged in tit-for-tat tariffs, including on Canadian canola, an oilseed crop used to make cooking oil, animal meal and biodiesel.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-canada-apec-mark-carney-xi-jinping-5439461
