Canada says China is a strategic partner amid trade war with US: 'Any relationship has challenges'

Canada foreign minister Anita Anand said Canada now sees Beijing as a strategic partner in a dangerous world, in a major shift in the power equation as Canada's relationship with the US worsens.

US President Donald Trump canceled trade talks with Canada, taking offence at a Canadian advertisement that claimed Ronald Reagan was against tariffs. Trump called the advertisement fake while Canada decided to withdraw the ad. But before this development, Anand issued her statement shifting Canada's stand on China and said all relationship has challenges. Anand told The Canadian Press on Monday that a strategic partnership with China means going beyond allowing individual irritants to strain the entire relationship and permitting Canada to advance its economic and security interests.“It’s necessary for us to lay the foundation, if we are going to find areas where we can further co-operate,” she said.“There are going to always be challenges in any relationship. The key is to be able to have the dialogue necessary to address the issues of Canadian concern.”

Canada called China a disruptive power in 2022

Three years ago, Canada called China an increasingly disruptive global power that holds "interests and values that increasingly depart from ours (Canada's)".

“We must be nuanced in our diplomacy. We must stress our concerns relating to security and public safety on the one hand, and we must seek to build additional supply chains on the other. That is pragmatism,” Anita Anand said after she visited senior officials in China, India and Singapore. “What we are aiming to do is to recalibrate the relationship, so that it is constructive and pragmatic,” Anand said.“We are going to be seeking to ensure that foreign policy serves the domestic economy,” Anand said.

“Let’s not make any mistake that China is a major global economic player.”She said Canada’s foreign policy now rests on the three pillars she outlined at the United Nations this fall: strengthening defence, building economic resilience and advancing core values such as human rights.Carney said last month Canada could “engage deeply” with China on commodities, energy and basic manufacturing, but with guardrails that “left off to the side” anything that could “bridge into national security, privacy” or other matters. During an election debate back in April, Carney called China “the biggest security threat” facing Canada.