Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met on Friday for the second time in less than three months, in a bid to chart the course for bilateral ties that began to thaw last year.
The Xi-Carney meeting last October in Gyeongju, Republic of Korea, marked a turnaround of bilateral relationship, and placed it on a new trajectory of positive development. The two sides have had in-depth discussions on resuming and restarting cooperation across various fields, and achieved positive outcomes.
The healthy and stable development of China-Canada relations is in the common interests of the two countries and also conducive to world peace, stability, development and prosperity, Xi told Carney, who is on an official visit to China from Wednesday through Saturday, marking the first by a Canadian prime minister in eight years.
With a sense of responsibility for history, for the people and for the world, the two sides should advance the China-Canada new strategic partnership, steer their ties onto the track of sound, steady and sustainable development, and bring more benefits to both peoples, Xi said.
He said China and Canada should be partners of mutual respect, common development, mutual trust and collaboration.
He said that despite different national conditions, both countries should respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, respect the political systems and development paths they have chosen respectively, and adhere to the correct way of getting along with each other.
Xi urged both sides to encourage exchanges and cooperation in education, culture, tourism, sports and sub-national areas, and facilitate two-way travel to entrench public support for strong ties.
China said it is willing to enhance communication and coordination with Canada within the frameworks of the United Nations (UN), the G20 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation to jointly address global challenges.
Carney wishes to build with China a new strategic partnership that is strong and enduring so as to deliver greater benefits to the two peoples, Carney said.
Canada said it respects the one-China policy and its commitment to working with China in the spirit of mutual respect and partnership to expand and strengthen cooperation in the economy and trade, energy, agriculture, finance, education, climate change, and others, he said.
Carney said multilateralism underpins global security and stability, and the Global Governance Initiative put forward by President Xi is important.
Canada would also like to intensify multilateral coordination with China to uphold multilateralism and the authority of the UN and to promote international peace and stability, he added.
During Carney’s visit, both sides issued a joint statement of the China-Canada leaders’ meeting, and signed multiple cooperation documents covering trade, customs, energy, construction, culture, and public security.
