Last weekend, an otherwise languid summer lull, kicked off with a massive global tech outage and was capped by U.S. President Joe Biden’s bombshell decision not to seek re-election. Squeezed in between these frantic developments was a decidedly discreet trip to Beijing by Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, who met with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.
Joly said the 3.5-hour meeting covered bilateral irritants and global flashpoints — including foreign interference, disinformation campaigns against Canadian MPs, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and Taiwan — as well as “recent positive developments,” such as the resumption of consular consultations and recent exchanges between senior officials.
Joly and Wang also discussed “market access concerns,” likely code for Ottawa’s looming measures against Chinese electric vehicles, and stopping the shipment of fentanyl precursors into Canada.
Beijing’s readout, slightly more conciliatory in tone than past summaries, said Wang acknowledged “difficulties and twists” in Canada-China relations in recent years. Wang said the current state of relations “requires serious reflection from the Canadian side,” a toned-down version of his comments following a previous meeting with Joly in January, when he argued that Canada must have “correct cognition” to mend ties.
According to an analysis by APF Canada’s China team, Chinese ‘netizens’ were largely receptive to Joly’s visit, while state-affiliated Chinese media praised the “humble and low-profile" nature of Joly’s trip. One outlet stated that the visit was “an important step towards normalization, but there is still work to be done.”
The meeting is not a “reset,” according to Joly, but an effort to stabilize relations and open high-level communication channels. Her two-day visit to China, the first by a Canadian foreign minister in seven years, produced few concrete deliverables, focusing more on a mutual desire to ensure talks are frequent and frank.
Friday’s meeting was the third set of talks between Joly and Wang this year. Joly did not invite Wang to visit Canada.
Flagging Chinese economy forces ‘wolf warrior’ rethink
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) third plenum, an economic meeting of senior CCP members, concluded as Joly arrived in China. The 3,800-word communique issued at the end of the meeting did not advance concrete proposals to address the structural challenges facing the Chinese economy. For the first time, the communique included a separate section on national security, confirming the importance of regime stability to Chinese President Xi Jinping and the CCP.
Markets in Hong Kong and mainland China were not buoyed by what some analysts called a “vague” communique. Xi acknowledged in a related missive that the government needed to improve China’s industrial system and innovation ecosystem.
China still boasts the world’s second-largest economy. But Beijing may be inching away from its ‘wolf warrior’ tactics abroad and toward a more tactful approach with trading partners, partly to offset a slowing economy.
This approach was evidenced not only by Wang’s tone with Joly, but a visit this week to Beijing by Ukraine’s foreign minister, even after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly criticized Beijing in June.
Beijing visit bookended by ‘friendly’ Japan, South Korea trips
Joly was in Seoul before her trip to Beijing, and, afterwards, travelled to Tokyo. In South Korea, Joly launched the Canada-Korea Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Action Plan with her South Korean counterpart, Cho Tae-yul. The action plan focuses on expanding engagement in human rights, security and defence, economic development, and more.
While in Tokyo, Joly met with Japan's foreign minister, Kamikawa Yoko, for a “friendly working lunch,” with both ministers applauding progress on the Japan-Canada Action Plan, launched in 2022, and agreeing to further co-operation on Women, Peace and Security initiatives and Arctic engagement.
