Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's trip to North America will include an earlier stop in New York to participate in a United Nations Security Council meeting on May 26.Maxim Shemetov/The Canadian Press
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Canada next week, Beijing announced Friday, marking his first trip here in a decade as both countries work to cement a new partnership struck in January after a bitter trade war and years of strained relations.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand plans to take Mr. Wang on a hike in nearby Gatineau during his May 28 to 30 visit to Ottawa, according to a Canadian source familiar with the trip.
The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The pair are expected to discuss expanding two-way trade during the visit, including progress in the opening of the Canadian market to 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles this year, the source said. In January, China cut tariffs on Canadian canola seed, canola meal, lobster, crabs and peas, but only until the end of 2026. Any extension of this tariff reduction is dependent on whether Canada-China relations stay on an even keel.
The Anand-Wang hike is a sign of blossoming relations between Canada and China under Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is trying to diversify foreign trade away from the increasingly protectionist United States. U.S. President Donald Trump has sharply criticized the strategic partnership struck between Canada and China this year.
Mr. Wang’s trip to North America will include an earlier stop in New York to participate in a United Nations Security Council meeting on May 26, as well as a China-led multilateral forum of developing countries and authoritarian states on May 28.
The city of Gatineau lies just across the river from Ottawa, and its surrounding parks and forests have hundreds of kilometres of trails. Ms. Anand and Mr. Wang are expected to take their hike on May 30.
It’s not yet clear whether Mr. Wang will hold a news conference during his visit.
During a 2016 trip to Ottawa, Mr. Wang, who held the same role at the time, famously publicly scolded a Canadian reporter for asking about the Asian country’s human-rights record.
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“Your question is full of prejudice against China and arrogance,” Mr. Wang said during a June, 2016, news conference with then-foreign-affairs-minister Stéphane Dion. “This is totally unacceptable.”
During a briefing in Beijing on Friday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that China feels ties with Canada have “maintained a positive momentum of growth after experiencing a turnaround” earlier this year.
He said Mr. Wang will have “in-depth exchanges” with Canadian officials on how to “build a truly substantive” China-Canada relationship and on “international and regional issues of mutual interest.”
The self-governed island of Taiwan, however, continues to be a flashpoint for friction between China and Canada. Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province despite the fact its governing Chinese Communist Party has never ruled the territory since it took power in China in 1949.
Wang Di, China’s ambassador to Canada, warned in an April 30 interview with The Globe that the strategic partnership with China would be damaged if Canada allowed any more MPs or senators to visit the small democracy, or sent more warships through the Taiwan Strait – something the Royal Canadian Navy has done frequently in the past decade.
Full transcript of The Globe and Mail’s exclusive interview with Chinese Ambassador Wang Di
Beijing considers the strait between China and Taiwan to be an internal waterway, not international waters, as Canada views it.
The ambassador appeared to be laying out expectations for Canada’s behaviour as the two countries attempt to build on the recent truce reached between Mr. Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
China is increasingly trying to diplomatically isolate Taiwan in an effort to take over the island. While few countries have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Western countries have built robust unofficial ties to the island.
Canada ended formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1970 and instead, under then-prime-minister Pierre Trudeau, recognized the Communist-led People’s Republic of China. Since then, Canada’s One China policy recognizes the PRC as the sole legitimate government of China, but at the same time, neither challenges nor endorses the PRC position that Taiwan is China’s territory.
Conservative MP Michael Chong travelled to Taiwan on May 17 in defiance of the Chinese ambassador’s warning, and met with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. Canadian parliamentarians have visited Taiwan since at least the 1980s.
The Canadian government last week defended Mr. Chong’s right to take the trip to Taiwan.
“The independence of Parliament is a pillar of Canada’s democracy, and Members of Parliament and Senators have a longstanding practice of visiting Taiwan,” Global Affairs spokesperson Renelle Arsenault said in a statement.
Other cabinet ministers have recently engaged in outdoor recreation with foreign counterparts. In the case of Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, it was with a politician from one of Canada’s closest allies. He went for a run on Friday in London with British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves.