China and Canada Photo: VCG

China hopes that, through Prime Minister Carney's upcoming visit, the two sides will step up dialogue and communication, enhance political mutual trust, expand practical cooperation, properly handle differences, address each other's concerns, consolidate the momentum in the turnaround of China-Canada relations, and deliver more benefit to the two peoples, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Monday.

At the invitation of Premier of the State Council Li Qiang, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will pay an official visit to China from January 14 to 17, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday. 

Through the joint effort of the two sides, China-Canada relations have been gradually improved and developed since last year. President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister Carney in Gyeongju, the ROK, charting the course for the turnaround of the bilateral relations and the resumption or restart of exchanges and cooperation in various fields, said Mao.

The upcoming visit by Mark Carney is Canadian Prime Minister's first visit to China in eight years. China attaches high importance to the visit. President Xi Jinping will meet with Prime Minister Carney to provide new strategic guidance for the further improvement and development of bilateral relations, Mao said. 

Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress will hold talks and meet with him respectively to have broad-based and in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interests, said Mao.

The sound and steady development of China-Canada relations serves the common interest of the two countries and two peoples, and is conducive to world peace, stability, development and prosperity, Mao said. 

According to the Office of the Canadian Prime Minister, Carney will discuss economic issues such as trade, energy, and agriculture with the Chinese side, areas that align closely with the most promising fields for bilateral cooperation.

Carney's upcoming visit to China will be an important step in restarting bilateral ties, and injecting fresh momentum into China-Canada relations at a higher level. It may also serve as a positive signal for other Western countries to reassess their China policies and move toward more constructive engagement with China, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Monday. 

The expert noted that China and Canada have long shared strong economic complementarity and close people-to-people ties, but in recent years under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada's China policy veered off course under ideological influence and excessive alignment with US policy. Since Mark Carney took office, Canada has gone through a process of serious reassessment. As major changes in US policy have shattered Canada's previous illusions, Ottawa has begun to shed some of the constraints and ideological biases that previously limited its China policy.

For Canada, the visit carries more significance. The tariff disputes with the US have taken a heavy toll, leaving trade liberalization and diversification not as a choice but a necessity, Huang Zhong, vice professor from the Academy of International and Regional Studies at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, told the Global Times.

Even more pressing is the political dimension, Huang said, noting that after military operation on Venezuela, the US administration has claimed to take over Greenland, and US leader has previously openly floated the idea of making Canada the "51th state."

Against this backdrop, Carney's decision to visit China at this time can be seen as an effort to seek greater strategic room for maneuver and political support.

Carney's scheduled visit to China has attracted attention from several Western media outlets. An AFP report on Monday noted that Carney will head to Beijing hoping for "closer ties as he looks to reduce his country's dependence on the US." The report also said that "while Canadian foreign policy has for years been hawkish toward China," US President's mercurial trade policies and aggression toward allies could prompt a pivot."

Parliamentary secretary MP Kody Blois was cited by CBC News in a report on Sunday as saying that Carney would like to "recalibrate" Canada's once-frosty relationship with the Chinese government and look at economic opportunities for the two nations. The trip is "a continuation of that turning point in the relationship," Blois said in an interview that aired Sunday morning. "[Carney] believes there's opportunity for partnership," per CBC. 

Huang said that whether the visit becomes a genuine turning point will depend on Ottawa's willingness to demonstrate tangible, deliverable goodwill, including engaging in sincere dialogue on thorny issues such as tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. He noted that while the US remains an unavoidable factor shaping China-Canada relations, Canada still has room to work in the same direction as China to improve bilateral ties.