Chinese foreign minister visits China, former diplomat says ‘there’s a lot of things to talk about’

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[00:00:00]China's Foreign Minister arrives in Canada today, the first such trip in a decade. Wang Yi will be spending 3 days in Canada. He will meet with Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, and they're expected to talk about the recently updated Canada-China strategic partnership. Trade, investment, and global security are also on the agenda.

[00:00:21]Canada's International Trade Minister says the visit is a positive sign for the Canada-China relationship. And with me now is former Canadian diplomat in Beijing and author of The Beaver and the Dragon: How China Outmaneuvered Canada's Diplomacy, Security, and Sovereignty, Charles Burton. Welcome, Mr. Burton.

[00:00:42]Thanks for being here.

[00:00:44]>> Good to speak with you.

[00:00:45]>> This is the first visit by a Chinese Foreign Minister to Canada in 10 years.

[00:00:50]Let's start with your thoughts on what it all means.

[00:00:54]>> Well, Mr. Wang is a very senior member of the Chinese Communist regime. He's a member of the Political Bureau. So, when he came last time as Foreign Minister, he didn't have that high rank, but he does now. And I think the the purpose of the meeting is to discuss the implications for Canada of our new strategic partnership arrangement with China. Um, for example, when we when the Prime Minister was in China in January, he negotiated relief of tariffs on canola seeds and other agricultural commodities. But the period for that release was stated to be March 1st to December 31st of this year. So, would the Chinese make more requirements on Canada to uh as conditions for continuing access to the Chinese market? We already heard from the Chinese Ambassador that that the Chinese government regards the strategic partnership as suggesting that Canada should no longer allow parliamentarians to visit Taiwan or to participate in freedom of navigation exercise in the Taiwan Strait. There are other There are other conditions that they might apply such as wanting Canada to support China's entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership that most countries oppose because China's economy doesn't really match up with the requirements for that membership. And also that Canada should not um crack down on Chinese agents operating in Canada, the agents of influence that were exposed in the AUK Commission uh um inquiry and and espionage and all of these things that that over the past couple of years China has been um criticized for.

[00:02:42]Will the Chinese make Canada easing down on the non-trade um concerns in the relationship in exchange for a promise of greater access to the Chinese market to relieve the pressure on economy from the Trump administration's tariffs and other measures?

[00:03:02]>> Could there be any tangible deals that come out of these discussions?

[00:03:07]>> I don't think that there'll be any tangible deals >> [clears throat] >> occurring as a result of these discussions. I think certainly there is concern over um some of the deals that that were signed when the Prime Minister was in China in January. In particular, the the memo of memorandum of understanding between the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that has not been made public. I I think a lot of diaspora communities and others are concerned that Canada may have agreed to allow the Chinese police access to information about people in Canada in the course of their investigations and there have been a a a number of accusations made against the police coercing persons in Canada to to return to to China persons of interest to the regime that that have fled here. So, you know, there there are a lot of things to talk about.

[00:04:07]I'm my feeling is that the Chinese government expects it to be a mostly one-way interaction where we accede to further Chinese terms in exchange for the promise of of um investment and trade opportunities.

[00:04:22]>> Interesting point you make there. We will have to leave it though right there. Mr. Burton, thank you very much for your time. That is Charles Burton, former Canadian diplomat in Beijing.