Toronto “Canada’s eyes are wide open” to normalize relations with China, Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said, after three years of unstable relations with Beijing since the arrest and release last Friday of an executive. Huawei Technologies.
Garneau told CBC News that the Canadian government is now taking a four-pronged approach to China: “coexist”, “compete”, “cooperate” and “challenge”.
Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, has returned to China after reaching a deal with U.S. prosecutors to end a bank fraud case against her. This resulted in the end of his nearly three-year extradition battle in a Canadian court.
Shortly after Meng flew to China, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the two Canadians detained by Chinese authorities just days after Meng’s arrest in December 2018, were released by Beijing.
“There was no path to a relationship with China as long as the two Michael’s were in custody,” Garneau said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who won a third term on September 20, had vowed to improve ties with China since becoming prime minister in 2015, building on his father’s success in establishing diplomatic relations with the Asian giant in 1970.
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