For Canada’s Trudeau, rebuilding ties with China is priority

A feasibility study into a free trade zone between China and Canada is to be undertaken, according to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang after the meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Canada and China are apparently not showing any flexibility on the issue, with both countries sticking to their condition.

Minister of International Trade Chrystia Freeland has described Harper’s decision not to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a “lost opportunity of the previous government”. “You have no right to speak of this”, Wang said.

Ahead of the trip, Trudeau faced calls from activists to highlight concerns over human rights abuses, Tibet, and the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners. “Every country has their own problems with human rights issues”.

China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the United States, with exchanges topping C$85 billion (US$66.5 billion) previous year.

Later in the trip, he will attend the G20 leaders’ summit in Hangzhou. That’s the fundamental economic problem the Trudeau government has to tackle as it struggles to get Canada’s relationship with China back on track.

Meanwhile Trudeau says he’s brought up human rights issues during his visit to China.

Ottawa is pressing the case of Canadian citizen Kevin Garratt, who was indicted on charges of spying and stealing state secrets earlier this year. The United States is the top buyer and imported $3.3 billion worth of canola products in 2015 while China imported $2.6 billion worth.

China’s President Xi Jinping, second right, and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, second left, hold their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016.

China says the standard is necessary to prevent the spread of blackleg disease from Canadian canola into Chinese crops of rapeseed, another name for the agricultural commodity.

But Trudeau also told the crowd that China “should be able to ask for advice and take suggestions about how to be better” – a carefully worded message given China’s history of rebuking the appearance of condescension from foreign dignitaries.

“It’s important for Canada to have a stable, steady, constructive, effective relationship with China”, said Roland Paris, a former foreign policy advisor to Trudeau.

In a news briefing with China’s premier Li Keqiang, the Canadian prime minister said he hopes for a long term solution with China on their dispute over the safety of canola exports from Canada.

His visit comes more than four decades after his father first began paving the way to improved Canada-Chinese relations in the 1970’s.

Before the big gathering of leaders from the world’s most important economies, Trudeau has been keen on singing the praises of globalization and trade. Despite many attempts to move our exports up the value chain from raw resources to advanced technology and sophisticated services, progress has been disappointing.

Some good news for Canadian canola producers as the prime minister’s visit to China continues.