By Promit Mukherjee
OTTAWA, May 29 (Reuters) – China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi said on Friday that Canada could surpass its goal of increasing exports to China by 50% by 2030, during a meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand.
Wang said he thought Canada’s exports to China could increase by 100%, building on momentum between the countries.
“Canada is focused on growing our economy and diversifying our trading relationships,” Anand said during the meeting. “The Canada-China economic relationship is significant,” she said.
Wang is on a three-day visit to Canada, the first by a Chinese foreign minister in a decade and the latest step to improve ties. On Friday afternoon, he shook hands with Prime Minister Mark Carney ahead of a private meeting.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Anand’s office said the two leaders discussed a wide range of topics including trade, human rights and foreign interference in a “frank and constructive manner.”
“Both ministers reiterated the importance of maintaining stable and reliable channels of communication at all levels to deepen cooperation and remove irritants where possible,” her office said.
Canada and China struck an initial trade deal in January to slash tariffs on electric vehicles and canola, when Carney became the first Canadian prime minister to visit China since 2017.
China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner, and Carney has sought to reduce his country’s overwhelming reliance on the United States after it became a target of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Amid an ongoing trade war with the U.S., Carney has vowed to double Canadian exports to other markets in the next decade and has signed more than 20 economic and security deals in the last year.
On Thursday, Carney delivered a speech in New York calling for a “new partnership” with the U.S., saying that a stronger Canada would “help make America great again.”
SOVEREIGNTY AND SECURITY
The Chinese foreign minister’s Ottawa visit comes after the Canadian warship HMCS Charlottetown completed a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait on May 23. China said on Friday it firmly opposes any attempt by any country to undermine its sovereignty and security “under the pretext of freedom of navigation.”
China claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan and the strategic Taiwan Strait, while Taipei rejects those claims.
Earlier this month, Conservative Canadian lawmaker Michael Chong travelled to Taiwan, where he met with Taiwanese President Dr. Lai Ching-te and other senior officials.
Chong said in a statement his visit was intended to “show solidarity with a democracy at the front lines of intimidation from the People’s Republic of China” and to assert Canada’s sovereignty, after a warning from the Chinese ambassador to Canada regarding politicians visiting Taiwan.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee in Ottawa and Frances Gao in Toronto; Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Maria Cheng, Ismail Shakil and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Caroline Stauffer, Rod Nickel and Edmund Klamann)
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