Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly is on an unannounced visit to China in an effort to improve relations between the two countries, marking the first face-to-face meeting between a Canadian foreign minister and his counterpart in Beijing in nearly seven years.
Jolie will be the highest-ranking Canadian government official to visit China since 2017, and is aimed at repairing deteriorating relations between Canada and Beijing after Canada claims the detention of two Canadians in China was arbitrary and following recent reports of alleged Chinese political interference in Canada.
China’s foreign ministry said she was visiting China at the invitation of Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also China’s foreign minister and a member of the all-powerful Communist Party Central Committee.
The two are scheduled to meet on Friday.
In a statement, Jolie’s office said the two ministers would “discuss potential cooperation on common challenges” and “exchange views on concrete ways to further strengthen the already deep ties between the Canadian and Chinese people.”
“As the world faces increasingly complex and intersecting global challenges, Canada is committed to pragmatic engagement with a wide range of countries to advance our national interests and defend our values,” Joly said in a statement released by her office. “As enshrined in Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, Canada must maintain open lines of communication and use our diplomatic tools to challenge where necessary and seek cooperation in areas that matter most to Canadians.”
“We look forward to a productive meeting,” the statement concluded.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference on Thursday that Joly and Wang would “have in-depth communication on China-Canada relations and issues of common interest, so as to promote the improvement and development of bilateral relations.”
This is Jolie’s first visit to the country since she took up her post as foreign minister in October 2021. She last met with her Chinese counterpart in February on the sidelines of the International Security Council in Munich.
Relations between Canada and China have been thoroughly chilled since Beijing detained Canadian citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in December 2018. Their arrests were widely seen as retaliation for the arrest in Vancouver of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, at the request of the United States on fraud charges related to sanctions against Iran.
Though the three were released in 2021, tensions remain and Canadian intelligence agencies have said they believe the Chinese government interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
Canada recently announced it was considering plans for potential tariffs to protect Canada’s electric vehicle supply chain from what the Trudeau government calls unfair competition from China.
Nevertheless, when Joly and Wang met in Germany in February, they suggested the thaw in diplomatic relations paved the way for progress in negotiations over the most sensitive issues dividing the two countries.
“It is in the fundamental interests of both countries to stabilize China-Canada relations so that they do not deteriorate further and to achieve the improvement and development of bilateral relations,” a summary of the meeting released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry at the time said, marking a notable change in tone given the open hostility in bilateral relations over the past six or so years.
“The Chinese and Canadian economies are highly complementary and there is no fundamental conflict of interests between the two countries. The two countries should be cooperative partners, not rivals or even enemies.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last visited China in December 2017, before the “two Michaels” were detained. The last time a Canadian foreign minister visited China was earlier that year.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke about Canada-China relations ahead of his visit to China.
Jolie’s high-level visit on Friday came just weeks after China’s new ambassador to Canada took up his duties in Ottawa. “China attaches great importance to its relationship with Canada,” Wang Di, who officially took up his post on June 26, said at the time of his appointment.
“China is ready to work with Canada to seek common ground, put aside differences and build a win-win cooperative relationship on the basis of mutual respect, so as to promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations,” the ambassador was quoted as saying in a statement released by the embassy.
