Trade ties and global economy come to table as PM Trudeau arrives in Thailand for APEC

BANGKOK – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now in Thailand for the third international summit in less than a week as Canada seeks to expand its trade ties in Asia.

This is the third destination of a 10-day international trip that started with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Cambodia and moved on to the G20 summit in Indonesia.

Prime Minister Trudeau will conclude his trip with a Francophonie meeting in Tunisia this weekend.

In Bangkok, he will attend a meeting with 21 other economic leaders that are part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.

The Liberal Party plans to unveil a new Indo-Pacific strategy in December that seeks to challenge China on human rights issues and deepen Canada’s influence in other parts of the region.

APEC Leaders need to consider how best to respond to the growing risk of a global recession, the negative impact of ongoing inflation, and concerns about food and energy security.

But Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and Chinese President Xi Jinping will get a lot of attention after a brief altercation in front of the media as the G20 closed on Wednesday.

The two sides did not hold formal bilateral talks in Bali, but spoke briefly between the summits, after which Prime Minister Trudeau’s office told reporters that Prime Minister Trudeau was concerned about China’s “interference” in Canada. said to have expressed

Xi later confronted Trudeau and, through an interpreter, accused Trudeau of undermining diplomatic relations by publishing details of the conversation.

Prime Minister Trudeau said Canada “believes in free, open and candid dialogue”.

The tense exchange comes amid a cold relationship between Canada and China that refuses to warm up. A year after Chinese authorities released two Canadians who had been detained for nearly three years in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a Huawei executive for extradition to the United States. is.

There have been several reports of Chinese interference in Canada in recent weeks, including the arrest in Quebec this week of a former Hydro-Québec employee charged with providing trade secrets to China.

Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie said in a speech earlier this month that Canada intends to cooperate with China when necessary and to criticize the country when warranted.

She accused China of becoming an “increasingly destructive force”.

This report by the Canadian Press was first published on November 16, 2022.