Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will sit down with Chinese President Xi Jinping at next week Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where he intends to press Ottawa concerns over foreign interference. Carney confirmed the meeting at a Montreal news conference, saying the two leaders will discuss many things.
Why it matters
The meeting comes with a heavy agenda. Carney faces allegations of espionage and reports of Chinese police stations operating in Canada, and he has said he will raise the interference issue directly with Xi. The encounter will be watched closely in Ottawa, where the relationship with Beijing has been strained for years.
The timing matters for both leaders. Carney has just returned from a European summit in Dublin, where he pushed Canada deeper alliance with Europe, and he is now turning to Asia with the same message: Canada is diversifying its partnerships. The Xi meeting is the hardest part of that tour, because it involves confrontation rather than agreement.
What happens next
The trade backdrop is also in play. Canada and India are near the final text of a trade pact, and Carney is building a network of partnerships that reduces reliance on the United States. China is the largest and most difficult piece of that puzzle, and the APEC meeting will show whether the two sides can talk at all.
For now, the meeting is set and the agenda is public. What it produces will depend on whether Xi engages on interference or deflects it. Either way, the encounter will be one of the most watched meetings of the summit.
The interference issue has shadowed the relationship for years. Carney faces allegations of espionage and reports of Chinese police stations operating in Canada, and he has said he will raise the concerns directly with Xi. The meeting at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit comes as Canada is also deepening ties with Europe and nearing a trade pact text with India, building a network of partnerships that reduces reliance on the United States. China is the largest and most difficult piece of that puzzle, and the APEC encounter will show whether the two sides can talk about their differences at all.
