Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urges cooperation with Canada to ‘eliminate interference’ and restart exchanges, amid US trade threats over new bilateral deal.
MUNICH: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (pic) told his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand the two nations should work to “eliminate interference” during a meeting on Saturday.
The talks occurred on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, where Wang has been promoting Beijing as a stable partner.
He did not name the United States when calling for the two countries to jointly counter interference.
“China is willing to work with Canada to eliminate interference, restart exchanges and cooperation in various fields,” Wang said, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout.
Wang hailed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to China in January as “fruitful”.
He said the two countries should build a healthy and stable “new type of strategic partnership”.
Carney’s visit aimed to broaden Canada’s export markets and decrease trade reliance on the United States.
A preliminary deal announced then expects Beijing to reduce tariffs on Canadian canola and grant visa-free travel to Chinese citizens.
The United States has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian products if the deal proceeds.
Washington claims the agreement would allow China to “dump goods” into the market.
China-Canada relations had deteriorated sharply after the 2018 arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver.
Beijing subsequently detained two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, on espionage charges.
In a recent development, China overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg in February.
Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014.
