Beijing counters after Canadian minister calls out ‘increasingly disruptive’ China

OTTAWA - Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has called out an “increasingly disruptive” China on the world stage as she teased in a speech parts of a new Indo-Pacific strategy expected to be released in November.

Her comments on Wednesday came ahead of several summits in the region that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is to attend, including the Asean summit in Cambodia, the Group of 20 in Indonesia, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) in Thailand.

“China is an increasingly disruptive, global power,” Ms Joly told a Toronto audience. “It seeks to shape the global environment into one that is more permissive for interests and values that increasingly depart from ours.”

She added: “And China’s rise as a global actor is reshaping the strategic outlook of every state in the region, including Canada.”

In a broad outline of Ottawa’s new policy roadmap, which is due to be released in the coming weeks, Ms Joly said it will be critical to expand relations with India and other countries in the region, as well as Taiwan.

In the speech, she did not discourage further trade with China, which has become Canada’s second-largest trading partner, despite strained diplomatic ties.

But she warned Canadian businesses that they “need to be clear-eyed” about doing business in and with China.

Bilateral relations soured following

Canada’s 2018 arrest of a Huawei executive on a US warrant,

and

Beijing’s detention of two Canadians

in apparent retaliation. All three were released in 2021 as part of a deal with US prosecutors.

While tensions cooled after the releases, relations have remained sour, and Ms Joly’s remarks prompted a pointed retort from Beijing on Thursday. “The relevant remarks by the Canadian side contravene the facts, are filled with ideological bias, and shamelessly interfere in the internal affairs of China,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular media briefing.

“Defining its so-called Indo-Pacific strategy is Canada’s own matter, but no matter what regional strategy Canada proposes, the guiding principle should be mutual benefits and win-win, rather than zero-sum chess game and conservative Cold War zero-sum thinking,” Mr Zhao said.

In her speech, Ms Joly said Canada must continue to deal with China on global issues such as climate change. Notably, China will chair a United Nations biodiversity conference in Montreal in December. But she promised that Ottawa would be vocal on

China’s poor treatment of Uighurs and other minorities,

its crushing of free speech in Hong Kong,

military threats against Taiwan,

and any moves to curtail international navigation rights in the region.

“We will challenge China when we ought to. We will cooperate with China when we must,” Ms Joly said. “The Indo-Pacific region is the epicentre of a generational global shift,” she added, predicting that it will account for half of the global economy by 2040. AFP, REUTERS