China’s Ambassador to Canada Wang Di speaks during an interview at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, on March 19.
China ‘ready to move forward’ in relations with Canada, envoy says
China’s ambassador says his country is open to negotiating a free-trade agreement with Ottawa and co-operating on a research station in the Arctic – extending an invitation to repair strained ties as Canada’s relations with the United States worsen.
However, Wang Di, Beijing’s envoy to Canada, says Ottawa would have to remove restrictions placed on Chinese investment in recent years.
He cited as examples a 2022 decision to order Chinese state-owned companies to divest their interests in three Canadian critical-minerals companies, Ottawa’s forced closing of the Canadian operations of Chinese social-media platform TikTok and the federal government’s order to restrict the use of Chinese artificial-intelligence company DeepSeek’s chatbot on some of its mobile devices.
“If those restrictions are still there, how can we talk about an FTA?” he said, referring to a free-trade agreement.
The name of this restaurant…
China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the U.S. and, in 2017, Ottawa came close to starting talks with Beijing on a trade agreement. Preparatory negotiations ended in 2018 without a deal.
Canada has grown more wary of Chinese investment in the past seven or eight years, and has cited national security as one of the reasons for blocking transactions.
Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated talk of annexing Canada to become the “51st state,” Mr. Wang said China considers Canada independent. “Canada is a sovereign country, so we of course respect Canada’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity.”
On Thursday, as it had already signalled earlier this month, China imposed retaliatory tariffs on $3.7-billion of Canadian imports, from canola oil to pork to seafood.
The move was in return for 100-per-cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and 25-per-cent levies on Chinese steel and aluminum that Canada imposed last year after similar levies enacted by the United States.
Canada Right Now…
The envoy characterized Canada’s tariffs on Chinese goods as a “blind following” of the United States. Ottawa had argued that these were necessary because subsidized automakers in China were overproducing electric vehicles and could “lead to an exponential surge of import that could adversely affect” Canada’s nascent EV-related industries.
Mr. Wang said Beijing feels that “when Canada is growing its relations with other countries, it should not sacrifice China’s interests.” He said Canada-China co-operation “should not be determined by any other third party.”
Questioned on whether China, which has previously sent research ships through northern waters, wants to co-operate with Canada in the Canadian Arctic, or even a joint research station, Mr. Wang indicated Beijing’s interest.
“We believe that the international community, conducting co-operation in the Arctic, serves the interests of all humankind. You mentioned such a co-operation idea; we are open to it.”
Relations between the two countries entered a deep freeze more than half a decade ago after Ottawa arrested Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition request and Beijing retaliated by jailing two Canadians for nearly three years. Relations have since been battered by allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian elections and the latest escalating trade dispute between the countries.
Mr. Wang, who took up his post last year, said his mission in Ottawa is to improve ties with Canada.
“For quite a long time, Canada was one of the Western countries that had the best relationship with China. But unfortunately, in the past few years, our relationship suffered setbacks,” he said. “Now, China is ready to move forward.”
Canada in recent years has publicly criticized the crackdown in Hong Kong, Beijing’s intimidation of Taiwan and its treatment of Uyghurs in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. Key cabinet ministers have talked about putting distance between Canada and China. Two-and-a-half years ago, François-Philippe Champagne, now Finance Minister, captured this widening gulf when he said he believes that there’s a Western consensus forming to decouple from, or reduce trade with, China and other authoritarian countries.
Mr. Wang said that in recent years “there has been a dent in the mutual trust between our two countries.” He said it’s up to Canada to create “good conditions” for free-trade talks. Later in the interview, the envoy said rebuilding trust means “stop smearing, attacking and hyping up.” Asked for examples, he cited “smearing and attacking” on the issues of Xinjiang, Tibet and Taiwan.
“Let me tell you, the Chinese people attach great importance to our sovereignty, just like the Canadian people.”
When former Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau met Mao Zedong in China
Asked whether he was saying that ending criticism of China over its conduct toward Uyghurs, Tibet or Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing considers a breakaway region, was the cost of increased economic relations, the envoy said: “Mutual respect of each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is a basic norm governing international relations, and it has nothing to do with whether you want to develop economic co-operation with China or not.
“If you don’t want economic co-operation with China, we still have to respect each other’s sovereignty.”
The envoy said Chinese companies have tremendous interest in investing in Canada but have been discouraged by barriers. He cited the example of Chinese electric-vehicle giant BYD Co., which, he said, “had carefully thought about coming to Canada to make investment.” Mr. Wang said the company “met huge difficulties, restrictions and obstruction and they had to give up the idea of investing in Canada.”
He said a BYD presence in Canada would have provided Canadians with “good-quality” and less-expensive electric vehicles. “That would be a very good contribution to the Canadian government’s efforts addressing climate change.”
Mr. Wang said China has a big appetite for foreign energy. “As the biggest consuming and importing country of energy in the world, China’s energy market has huge potential and it has stable potential.”
Asked whether he felt increased Canadian exports to China could make up for lost trade with the United States, Mr. Wang said he believes that there is “huge potential” for co-operation between Beijing and Ottawa but that it’s up to each government to set the right conditions for trade.
“A lot of Chinese companies actually have the willingness to make investments here in Canada. But again, they are met with a lot of restrictions from the Canadian side.”
Seriously,
Canada should mend ties with China to build a new world (trade) order
Geopolitics is complicated. China’s retaliatory tariffs against Canada, which took effect on Thursday, exacerbate the American-wrought trade crisis facing this country. Paradoxically, the Chinese tariffs also hint at a solution, a path for further engagement between Ottawa and Beijing, that could benefit not only Canada but the entire world.
In concrete terms, the current trade dispute between Beijing and Ottawa is about Canada’s tariff slap on Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminum, which our country imposed before Mr. Trump began his second term. China has retaliated with tariffs on peas, canola products and seafood. At a higher level, this conflict results from the interaction of different economic systems and is thus a microcosm of the fundamental clash driving today’s geopolitical cataclysm.
Mr. Trump’s current tariff tantrum is another reaction to the failures of global economic institutions to reconcile these contradictions. However, his approach looks less like a thoughtful strategy from the world’s most powerful country, and more like what happens when a superpower suffers from dementia. He’s extending his sights beyond China to incorporate many of his other grievances and real or perceived free-riding (with Canada implicated here), but with tactics that are confounding and disproportionate to the extreme.
From Canada’s perspective, the tariffs were about protecting jobs and Canadian hubs in continental industrial supply chains from a tide of cheap Chinese EVs, steel and aluminum. In China, these sectors have benefited from myriad forms of subsidies and market access barriers that put competition on uneven ground. Hence, Canadian tariffs sought to fend off zero-sum terms of trade.
From China’s perspective, it is also seeking to foster economic development and provide jobs for its people, all while trying to protect its own economy from being dominated by the incumbent Western powers. Canada’s rollout and rhetoric added insult to trade injury, so China retaliated – but by hitting non-sensitive food sectors that have positive-sum terms of trade, particularly as they contribute to Chinese food security.
What’s clear is that both countries are pursuing similar economic goals, but frictions arise owing to very different means pursuing them.
To reconcile this and future disputes, negotiations with China should start by identifying three categories of sectoral trade:
- Those where security and dual-use concerns effectively prohibit trade;
- sectors strategically important for economic development where uninhibited trade flows create or approach zero-sum circumstances;
- and non-sensitive sectors where trade is mutually beneficial because of positive-sum terms of trade.
Canada and China must agree to not link retaliatory actions between these categories, as is the case with the current predicament. Agriculture has traditionally been exposed to retaliation, even when tariffs aren’t involved, as it’s convenient to feign phytosanitary concerns to block shipments. A negotiated outcome should include new mechanisms to prevent this in the name of food security.
Negotiating these lists and transparently broadcasting them would also provide needed certainty for both Canadian and Chinese businesses to make economically meaningful investments, thereby aligning co-operative incentives and supporting Canada’s diversification ambitions.
What do Chinese think of Canada, generally?
Shu Qi: China’s view on Canada and on Europe is essentially the same: they are America’s sons, lacking independent diplomatic sovereignty. In every diplomatic affair, they closely follow in America’s footsteps, like lapdogs.
Ouch.
Taiwanese Separatists Mocking Justin Trudeau
Taiwan’s Viral Video mocking Justin Trudeau for his China relations
by incanadian
Chinese respect Canada… See the different?
Stay Classy, Canada.
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