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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has told Chinese leader Xi Jinping that the two countries must build a relationship “adapted to the new global reality” as they try to repair strained ties against the backdrop of the US disruption of the world order.
Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit Beijing in nearly a decade, is turning to the world’s second-largest economy as part of an effort to double exports to non-U.S. partners over the next decade.
For Xi, the trip offers an opportunity to take advantage of President Donald Trump’s erratic policies toward Canada and bring a key U.S. economic partner and NATO ally closer to him.
“Together we can build on the best of what this relationship has been in the past, to create a new one, adapted to the new global reality that will provide stability, security and prosperity to peoples on both sides of the Pacific,” Carney said Friday, as the sides began their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Xi told his Canadian counterpart that they should build “a new type of strategic partnership between China and Canada” to “better benefit the peoples of the two countries” and “world peace.”
“China is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with Canada within frameworks such as the United Nations, the Group of 20 and Apec to jointly respond to global challenges,” Xi said.
Carney’s visit to Beijing is the first by a Canadian leader since Justin Trudeau in late 2017.
Relations between the two countries deteriorated in 2018 when China arrested two Canadians in response to the Canadian arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications equipment group Huawei, following a US extradition request.
Ties began to improve in June when Carney and Premier Li Qiang, China’s second leader, agreed to “regularize communication channels.” Carney next met Xi at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in October.
Chinese officials and state media hailed this week’s visit.
Carney’s trip “is of crucial and symbolic significance for bilateral ties,” state news agency Xinhua quoted Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as telling his Canadian counterpart on Thursday.
China wanted to “strengthen communication with Canada, enhance trust, eliminate interference and deepen cooperation,” Wang added.
Carney also met Thursday with Li and Zhao Leji, the head of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress.
“Our countries have common ground in many areas, including clean energy, agriculture and finance,” Carney wrote in one after on social media site X after meeting Li.
Ottawa’s official Indo-Pacific strategy, released in November 2022, described China as “an increasingly disruptive global power” but added that its “economy offers significant opportunities for Canadian exporters.”
On the eve of the trip, Carney said Canada was “forging new partnerships around the world to transform our economy from one dependent on a single trading partner to one that is stronger and more resilient to global shocks.”
Zhao Minghao, a professor at the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said: “Most US allies are somewhat mitigating the US risks, so this is a very important opportunity for China to strengthen ties with Canada.”
Despite the show of friendship, restoring genuine goodwill between Ottawa and Beijing would be difficult, analysts said.
Canada’s security services accuse China of interfering in the election, threatening members of the Chinese diaspora – particularly Hong Kong activists – and posing the biggest threat to cybersecurity.
Carney is also under pressure from canola farmers, the lobster industry and fishermen to convince Beijing to lift devastating tariffs it imposed on their products last year.
Ottawa has imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and steel since October 2024, closed the offices of Chinese social media app TikTok in Canada and banned Chinese surveillance camera maker Hikvision.
