In the brief exchange between the two leaders, who have been at odds over trade and the arrest and detention of two Canadians, Trudeau raised concerns about media reports that China secretly funded 11 candidates in the 2019 federal election. The pair can be seen talking informally to a packed room in a photo released by the prime minister’s office to mark the meeting. A readout of the side discussion released by the PMO said the two leaders also discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and North Korea’s continued aggression against South Korea. The PMO says Trudeau also pressed Xi on the importance of the upcoming COP15 summit in Montreal and that country’s role in fighting climate change. The readout does not say how Xi reacted to any of these issues, only that the two leaders “discussed the importance of continuous dialogue.” Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly also met with her Chinese counterpart at the summit. The PMO did not elaborate on Xi’s reaction to Trudeau raising the Ukraine issue, but John Kirton, director of the G20 Research Group at the University of Toronto, told CBC News that there are signs that Xi wants to get involved in Ukraine and does not support an escalation. of the conflict. Xi “has leaned heavily on joining the democracies to help stop an escalation… [and] to bring [the war in Ukraine] to a fair conclusion in the coming months,” Kirton said.
Managing Canada-China Relations
Andrew Cooper, a professor at the Balsilie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo, told The Canadian Press that Canada could follow the same pattern that Australia faced a decade ago, when it isolated itself from China but gradually found areas of consensus with the Beijing. while creating stronger ties with other Asian countries. “Canada has been in penalty kicks for a couple of years now,” he said. WATCHES | Canada calls for support for collective action against Russia at G20 summit:
Trudeau seeks support to punish Russia ahead of G20 summit
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seeking support from other G20 countries to punish Russia, while US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their own bilateral meeting ahead of the summit. Acknowledging that the Chinese Communist Party recently extended Xi’s mandate to rule for another five years, Cooper said: “This is a very different China. President Xi is in a unified position. If he is not the new Mao, he is certainly in a position where he can be a central figure who can function in a way that we didn’t expect when the G20 was created.” The Canadian Chamber of Commerce said the Liberals are taking a hands-on approach to dealing with China, saying it will help inform businesses about the risks of working in China and let them decide whether to do so. “You have to work with China on issues like climate change, but we also have to recognize that China is a strategic adversary and doesn’t play by the same rules as everyone else,” the group’s chief executive, Perrin Beatty, told reporters. . Bali. He also said Ottawa needs to outline its trade priorities in Asia. “We have to be strategic. [The plan] must be holistic; It has to be well communicated so people know what the policy is,” Beatty said. He added that Canadian businesses need help taking advantage of the numerous trade deals Ottawa has signed and is currently negotiating. “The three Fs – food, fuel, fertilizer – Canada has them in bundles. And what’s needed now is a clear strategy on the Canadian side to put those resources to work and make sure we’re able to actually deliver those products to the rest of the world,” he said. Beatty also said Canada should do “a full post-mortem” of supply chain shocks during the COVID-19 pandemic and figure out whether to stockpile critical goods in Canada and to what extent Canada should curtail trade in friendly countries.
Trudeau announces $750 for infrastructure, vaccines
While at the G20 summit, Trudeau also announced $750 million in funding to help developing countries improve their infrastructure and make vaccines for COVID-19. The deal sees the Crown Corporation finance infrastructure projects in Asia for three years, starting next March. It’s the biggest piece of the forthcoming Indo-Pacific strategy the Liberals have announced so far, and part of a G20 project to help low- and middle-income countries have safer, more sustainable cities. “It will also make our supply chains stronger and create good jobs,” Trudeau said in remarks prepared for a closed-door event hosted by Indonesia, the US and the European Union. US President Joe Biden meets President Xi at the G20 summit in Bali on November 14. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) The funding will be managed by FinDev Canada, which currently has a mandate to operate in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Now it will also help finance projects in developing countries in Asia. Trudeau told leaders that sovereign wealth funds can help governments abroad build schools and hospitals. “If we want to close the infrastructure gap, we must continue to find ways to incentivize greater private sector investment. No amount of public money can fix this problem alone,” the prime minister said. Trudeau is also announcing $80 million for global health systems, with most of the funding going to a World Bank project that helps countries prevent and respond to pandemics.
Russia and Ukraine
Geopolitics will likely overshadow the leaders’ commitments at the summit as countries discuss how to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s growing assertiveness. Canada is among the most vocal countries pushing G20 leaders to criticize Russia for worsening inflation and global security as a result of its war in Ukraine. Other countries refrain from inviting Russia in an effort to maintain good relations with both Moscow and the West. As the host of the summit, Indonesia urged countries to focus on finding common ground to ensure there is some consensus statement when the summit closes on Wednesday. “We can see that they’re going through the motions, trying to get a statement to save them the embarrassment of not having a communiqué. So that’s going to be very difficult,” said Cooper at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, who studies summits. of the G20. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office says Trudeau had to intervene at a closed-door G20 health forum on Tuesday after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that US biolabs were undertaking nefarious activities in Ukraine. Trudeau’s office says he told his peers the allegations were “absolute rubbish” and that leaders should work with the facts.
