Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday said his recent phone call with Chinese premier Li Qiang was “the start of a process of recalibrating the relationship with China”, a country which Canada has had chilly ties for years.
“It’s very important that we reopen dialogue with Chinese authorities for several reasons,” Carney told reporters, saying there were a number of bilateral trade disputes that had to be addressed. He also mentioned fentanyl smuggling.
He did not specifically mention China’s human rights record, which Canadian governments of differing political stripes have often expressed concerns about.
