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Was PM Carney’s Asia Trip Successful? | Your Morning

CTV Your Morning, November 3, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Nadjibulla calls the meeting between PM Carney and Chinese President Xi a "turning point" in Canada-China relations.

However, "whatever {Canada] do[es] with China" she says,  "has to sequence and triangulate it a way that does not negatively impact our negotiations with the U.S.... I think what they will try to do is more forward on easier issues rather than on EVs which will be considered discussions on Canada's auto sector and our negotiations with the U.S."

She also says there appears to be a "pause" on the U.S.-China trade war after a similar meeting between China and the U.S. President Donald Trump. "There will be many challenges [still to come] because there are many structural issues between China and the U.S. that will likely flare up in the future" 

APF Canada's Vina Najibulla weighs in as Manila, Ottawa ink landmark visiting forces deal | ANC

ANC, November 3, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Nadjibulla calls the signing of this visiting forces agreement between Canada and the Philippines a "major milestone" in the relationship.

She notes that this is Canada's "first such agreement in the Indo-Pacific" and represents a "huge testament to the trust and confidence Canada has in our relationship with the Philippines." 

This agreement comes after years of talks and a previous MoU. Nadjibulla says this move builds on Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy and allows Canada to "work with local partners... in maintaining rules-based order and maintaining open sea lanes which are so critical to Canada's economic prosperity." Canada, she says, "want[s] to do more with the region commercially... and for that to be the case we need peace and stability and Canada wants to be a stakeholder in that peace and stability, not just a beneficiary of the prosperity that can happen if [Canada and the Philippines] do more together." 

Expert: Canada will have to find a meaningful way to engage both China and the U.S.

CTV News, November 1, 2025

Featuring: Senior Fellow, APF Canada, Jia Wang

Excerpt: Discussing the recent meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Jia Wang says "it is quite an important moment for the relationship to see a reset." 

Canada will "have to find a way to meet this new reality of working and finding a way to meaningfully engage" with both China and the U.S., she says.

Wang notes that "building relationships" were a critical priority for Canada at the APEC Summit. Carney's trip to Asia, she adds, "is trying to make Canada more visible in Asia, more committed to working with Asian partners... it's an area that Canada can't look away from... [Canada] ha[s] to build those relationships. We have to show that we are committed to stay and really work with those countries in the long term." 

Partnerships spur regional collaborations

China Daily Asia, November 3, 2025

Featuring: Distinguished Fellow, APF Canada, Bart Édes

Excerpt: While both APEC and ASEAN+3 focus on "pragmatic, consensus-driven economic collaboration", compared to APEC, "ASEAN+3 is a more cohesive East Asian framework grounded on treaty-based mechanisms."

Édes nots that both frameworks are "well-positioned to advance a counternarrative of inclusive globalization rooted in Asia's pragmatic economic model... [and support] new Asian regionalism" with an emphasis on integration, multipolarity and regional resilience compared to the U.S.'s  reliance on tariffs and "aggressive transactional approaches" to spur FDI. 

Canola, electric vehicles at center of talks between PM Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping

CHCH News, October 31, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: While Nadjibulla says a reset in Canada-China relations and relief from the canola tariffs that are hurting Canadian farmers is ideal, there remains  "broader issues connected to national security, economic security, and foreign security" when it comes to dealing with China.

She notes Canada-China relations are "in a very different moment" than we were in 2018. However, "both China and the U.S. are now weaponizing over dependence, so [Canada] has to have many [trading] partners" to prevent over reliance on any single market 

Carney says he's pleased after 'turning point' meeting with Chinese president

CBC News Power & Politics, October 31, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: “So definitely no breakthroughs, no announcements on trade or tariffs as some people were hoping for, but very much a change in tone and an indication of a change in direction,” said Nadjibulla. “Prime Minister Carney wants to see the relationship deepen and broaden. He's already signalled that he will be travelling to Beijing to continue the discussions and to explore what is feasible. But we don't have a lot of details and specifics.

“There are a lot of questions," added Nadjibulla. "But on balance, a constructive, positive meeting that was about half an hour, so not as long as some of the other meetings with Japan or the U.S., but an important first step in this kind of new moment, a turning point in the relationship.”

Your World Tonight: Carney Meets Xi

CBC Listen, Your World Tonight, October 31, 2025

Featuring: President & CEO, APF Canada, Jeff Nankivell

Excerpt (12:35 min mark): 

Jeff Nankivell is with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, and he says Canada's deteriorating relationship with the United States has set the conditions for Canada and China to get past the bad blood that's been created.

“After the affair of the Meng Wanzhou, the two Michaels . . . I don't think there's a prime minister out there who would have been in a position to have some kind of a reset of the relationship immediately,” said Nankivell.

“So, I think it's partially a question of timing, and we also have circumstance."

Canada-China relationship at 'turning point': Carney

BNN Bloomberg, October 31, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: "While we do want to do more with China in certain areas, we have to remember that all of the security concerns with China on national security, foreign interference, economic security concerns, are still there and we have to proceed with caution."

She stresses Canada's economic diversification agenda and looking to Southeast Asia for new economic markets. 

"We have to approach this differently, new have to find new markets, many more partners, and move up the value chains., Instead of just selling canola seed, what else can we do with that product.... we're in a new era where we cannot juts be selling raw material to one or two customers." 

Foreign Policy expert on Carney and Xi meeting

CPAC, October 31, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Nadjibulla clarifies that while China may be Canada's second largest trading partner, it only accounts for about 3.8% of Canadian exports. Having a "constructive relationship... and dialogue" with China, she says, is critical. 

"With China, the strategy is deepen where we can and diversify where we have to." 

While PM Carney has emphasized the need to garner international investment for Canada's export infrastructure, Nadjibulla notes that if China "were to invest in our critical infrastructure" such as ports and bridges, "that presents national security risk."

Carney says he's pleased after 'turning point' meeting with Chinese president

CBC News, October 31, 2025

Featuring: President & CEO, APF Canada, Jeff Nankivell

Excerpt: 

"I don't think there's a prime minister out there who would have been in a position to have some kind of a reset of the relationship immediately,” said Nankivell, adding enough time has passed for the two countries to start talking again. 

“For Canada, the imperative to diversify our trading relationships on quite an urgent basis is there since the arrival of the Trump administration.”

‘No major breakthroughs, but a change of tone’: Nadjibulla on Carney-President Xi meeting at summit

CTV News, October 31, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Nadjibulla says the meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping produced "no major breakthroughs" but rather a "change of tone and a signals that both governments want to work on the issues" facing the bilateral relationship. 

She reminds Canadians that "we've got to engage in dialogue, but do so in a cautious way, co-ordinate with our allies, and in sequence along with the discussions we are having with the U.S."

When it comes to foreign interference concerns, she notes that the "relationship with China is complex... we can't just call [China] a strategic partner and forget about everything else," alluding to the 2018 diplomatic dispute and accusations made by former PM Justin Trudeau against China. 

Canada’s Indo-Pacific Moment: What Carney’s First Trip Got Right

Policy Magazine, October 31, 2025

Guest Contributor: Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla 

Excerpt: In a new op-ed by Vina Nadjibulla as a guest contributor for Policy Magazine, she highlights how "Mark Carney’s first trip to the Indo-Pacific was deliberately ambitious." 

"The goal was clear: raise Canada’s profile, signal reliability, and put real numbers behind an economic diversification agenda that has long been more aspiration than plan.

"Carney’s trip landed at the right moment. Across the region, governments are looking for partners that are predictable, rules-based, and not forcing them to choose between Washington and Beijing. Canada’s message—that it honours its commitments, pursues high-standard trade agreements, and supports inclusive and sustainable growth—resonated."

McGuinty expected to sign the Visiting Forces Agreement with the Philippines on weekend

The Hill Times - Politics This Morning, October 31, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Defence Minister David McGuinty was also in South Korea yesterday, and will be travelling to the Philippines on weekend, according to Nadjubulla.

In the Philippines, McGuinty is expected to sign the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement negotiated by Canada in March this year, she said. This would be the first such pact with a country in Southeast Asia, (Nadjibulla) highlighted, under which Canadian Armed Forces and the Philippines forces can do joint military exercises and joint training in each other’s countries. 

“It’s a big, big move to deepen defence co-operation with the Philippines,” she said. 

Analysts say Carney-Xi meeting set right tone, urge caution on next steps

The Canadian Press, October 31, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: APF Canada's Nadjibulla says Beijing's approach to security issues hasn't changed despite the recent meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi. She urges caution during talks with China in order not to undercut negotiations with the U.S. 

Canada's Carney agrees to visit China after meeting Xi

Reuters, October 31, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: "The meeting signals a change in tone and an openness to relations at the highest levels, but this is not a return to strategic partnership."

 "Canada needs to proceed with caution," she urges, particular with economic and defence issues. 

Canada’s Carney and China’s Xi Jinping take step towards mending ties

Al Jazeera, October 31, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: “Canada needs to proceed with caution because there’s nothing to suggest the Chinese Communist Party’s actions have changed since the prime minister named China as a foreign security threat.”

She maintains that dialogues between Canada and China should continue, but Canada needs to maintain caution and be mindful of China’s threats to Canada’s security interests, including in the Arctic. 

Carney accepts Xi’s invitation to visit China as leaders meet in South Korea

The Globe and Mail, October 31, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Vina Nadjibulla urged caution when it comes to Canada's engagement with China.

“There is no evidence that the Chinese Communist Party’s behaviour has changed on core issues such as foreign interference, coercive diplomacy, or actions in the South China Sea or the Arctic,” she said.

“Engaging Beijing is necessary – including at the leader level – but it must be clear-eyed, co-ordinated with allies, and sequenced carefully so that it does not undercut Canada’s negotiating positions with the United States or other Indo-Pacific partners.”

PSAC warns that the 2025 could include major government job cuts

The Vassy Kapelos Show, October 30, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: "This is a significant meeting, the first one in seven years," Nadjibulls says regarding the meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea. 

Canada has to bear in mind that China is "coming into this meeting very confident.... I think Prime Minister Carney has a really difficult diplomatic job ahead of him in improving the relationship with China, but in a way that doesn't compromise our concerns on national security, on foreign interference, on economic security. We have to manage de-escalation with China at the same time as we are trying to stabilize our relationship with the U.S. ... and at the same time trying to deepen relations with others like South Korea and Japan."

‘We’re seeing a temporary truce’: U.S. cuts tariffs on China by 10 per cent

CTV News, October 30, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: "We're seeing a temporary truce" between China and the U.S. says APF Canada's Nadjibulla following Trump's meeting with President Xi.

"Both leaders wanted to de-escalate and both are claiming a victory [in the negotiations]...This really is a big win for Xi and for China. China demonstrated that it can meet U.S. escalation simply step-by-step, and its control over rare earth minerals really gives [the country] tremendous leverage." 

Job number one for Canada, Nadjibulla says, is to "stabilize relations with the U.S. because that is still our biggest economic and security partner, but meeting with the Chinese President offers Prime Minister Carney an opportunity to gauge where the relationship can go." 

China Problems Persist Despite Trump Trade Truce

Global Finance, October 30, 2025

Featuring: Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada, Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Nadjibulla pointed out that the U.S. tariffs on China were being framed in Beijing as the chief culprit for its economic slowdown—but she noted the Asia country's troubles go beyond tariff wars.

“The reality is that China’s slowdown is overwhelmingly driven by domestic, structural issues: a prolonged property bust that’s sapping household wealth and confidence, weak consumption, local-government debt, and private-sector caution after years of regulatory churn—problems that predate the latest tariff rounds."