Top Chinese diplomat hints at more trade in visit to Canada

But Wang, on his first return trip to Canada in a decade, later sent a clear message that China expects that “no matter how the world may change,” Canada should make good on its pledge to pursue stronger ties with China.

It was a high-stakes visit that was carefully managed by Chinese and Canadian officials as Falun Gong protesters gathered across the street from Global Affairs Canada’s headquarters, with early warnings to media there would be no questions allowed of the government ministers.

For Wang’s later meeting with the prime minister, only “official photographers” were to be present, which in China’s case was a Xinhua crew. In the face of objections by the Canadian parliamentary press gallery, a small pool of journalists was briefly ushered in for the Carney-Wang handshake in the Prime Minister’s Office, after which Carney showed Wang sports-related paraphernalia in his office and said, “I try to keep fit like you.”

The Canadian government projected a warm welcome to Wang.

Anand planned to take Wang hiking Saturday in Gatineau Park, but officials declined to say exactly which trail they would take.

In dual statements as the Chinese entourage sat down with Anand and her team before a three-hour meeting that included a working lunch, Wang said the China-Canada relationship has gone through “twists and turns” and that a new era of co-operation between President Xi Jinping and Carney has turned things around.

“The major economic and trade concerns (of) both sides have been properly addressed,” Wang said, delivering remarks in Mandarin that were simultaneously interpreted for Canadian media.

“Looking at what this relationship has been through over the years, there are many important takeaways,” Wang said. “This includes a commitment to mutual respect, to commonality despite our differences, to independence and to mutual benefit. No matter how the world may change, these are good practices that both sides should uphold in general.”

Responding directly to Anand’s statement — which twice emphasized that security interests must be protected as the relationship is “recalibrated” — Wang underscored the trade potential.

Anand said the new strategic partnership signed by Carney and Xi during the prime minister’s trip to Beijing in January gave direction for “elevated engagement and co-operation on trade and investment, energy, finance, public security, and safety and people-to-people ties.

“At the same time each of our countries must address critical issues and priorities to ensure the safety and security of our peoples,” said Anand. 

“We are committed to growing this relationship responsibly with a goal of increasing exports to China by 50 per cent by 2030 while safeguarding Canada’s economic and national security interests and values,” she said, noting bilateral trade between the two countries reached $125.1 billion in 2025. Carney’s target would bring that to nearly $190 billion in the next four years.

Wang said it could grow even more than that.

“As long as the policies are consistent and stable, as long as we can have positive expectations, I believe we can totally go beyond the 50 per cent. We can even reach 100 per cent because … our economy (sic) are highly complementary,” said Wang.

Neither Wang nor Anand took questions, and Wang declined to address a question from the Star as the photo opportunity ended about the passage of the Canadian naval vessel through the Taiwan Strait, waters Canada considers international but which China regards as internal.

Speaking Friday in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said China “respects the right of navigation that all countries are entitled to under international law, but firmly opposes acts that undermine China’s sovereignty and security in the name of freedom of navigation.”

After their meeting, Anand’s office released a readout that said the two ministers “discussed a wide range of topics in a frank and constructive manner, including consular issues, foreign interference, forced labour and human rights.”

Wang, who attended the United Nations before arriving in Ottawa, last visited Ottawa in 2016, a trip marked by his scolding of a Canadian journalist for asking a question about China’s human rights record. He hailed the improved relationship Friday, saying that he and Anand have met or spoken by phone six times in the past year, “a record high.”

However, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters the prime minister is “wrong in his trade priorities. We trade we sell 20 times more to the United States than we sell to China,” adding, “Mark Carney’s Brookfield interests in China won’t change that.”

The message Poilievre said Carney should deliver to the visiting Communist Party officials is that “we are an independent and sovereign country. We should be willing to talk and trade with China — it is a brilliant civilization with hard-working, decent people — but we have to do so with our eyes open.

“This is a dictatorship that Mr. Carney himself acknowledged was the most the biggest threat to Canada Canada only a year ago, and our interests in Canada are in being sovereign, self-reliant and standing on our own two feet, ensuring that we have full control over our technology, our economy and our minerals, so never will we be vulnerable to the to the aggressive instincts of a foreign dictatorship.”

With a file from Raisa Patel