Anand calls China ties ‘significant,’ says Canada must safeguard ‘values’

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said that the economic relationship between Canada and China is “significant” as China’s foreign minister Wang Yi begins a three-day trip that will include meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Canadian journalists were not permitted to ask questions about her remarks with Wang. The last time Wang was in Ottawa 10 years ago, he unleashed a tirade on a Canadian reporter who asked about human rights in China at a joint press conference with then-foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion.

Anand made no explicit mention of human rights during her remarks on Friday, which came shortly after confirmation that a Canadian warship transited through the Taiwan Strait last week.

“On May 22, 2026, HMCS Charlottetown conducted a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait, which was completed on May 23, 2026,” a spokesperson with the Department of National Defence stated to Global News.

China claims sovereignty over the democratically governed Taiwan and has stepped up military activities around the island in recent months.

Canada’s former ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques, said that “transit of Canadian ships in the Taiwan Strait would be badly perceived” by Beijing.

“I think we have to push back on this and refrain from exercising self-censorship,” he said. “We have to stand by our values.”

Anand said in her remarks that “we are committed to growing this relationship responsibly with a goal of increasing exports towards China by 50 per cent by 2030, while safeguarding Canada’s economic and national security interests and values.”

Wang is set to meet with Carney Friday afternoon in Ottawa, and reporters are not being permitted to ask questions.

“That’s how things are done in Beijing, and now Mark Carney is importing those methods here.”

Carney visited China in January, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Carney’s office had cited his visit had a focus on “engagement on trade, energy, agriculture and international security.”

As a result, Canada and China reached a preliminary trade deal in which Beijing agreed to lower or eliminate some tariffs on Canadian agricultural products and Canada agreed to reduce tariffs on some Chinese electric vehicles.

Cheuk Kwan, co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China, said that there was “still a lot of unfinished business” from Carney’s trip to China.

“The last year has seen China even more aggressive in terms of dealing with Canada,” he said.