Canada climate talks can warm China ties
- Beijing visit by environment minister, the first by member of Ottawa’s cabinet in four years, may help improve relations
Climate-change denialism may defy the current wave of northern hemisphere wildfires, heatwaves and floods, but it cannot stop nations putting aside their differences and coming together to defend the planet. The most notable example is American climate envoy John Kerry’s visit to China despite a freeze on relations over top-level US contact with Taiwan.
The latest is to be found in the first visit to China by a Canadian cabinet minister, environment chief Steven Guilbeault, in more than four years.
It is that long since Ottawa plunged relations to a historic low by acting on a US warrant to arrest Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, at Vancouver airport in connection with fraud charges that were later dismissed. Days later, China detained two Canadian nationals on security and espionage charges.
All were released two years ago.
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US climate envoy John Kerry meets China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in latest bid to repair frayed ties
The world would be a better place without climate change, but the examples of China, the United States and Canada are reminders that, pragmatically, they can still find issues in common to work on, and that it is better to engage than to sever ties altogether.
Guilbeault joined an international gathering in Beijing of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, a semi-official think tank. He had talks with his Chinese counterpart Huang Runqiu.
However, the prospects of a major rapprochement are slim, diplomatic observers say, given that climate change is one of few areas where Canada has pledged to work with China in its recently released Indo-Pacific strategy, which describes China as “disruptive”.
Both China and Canada are major emitters of greenhouse gases. A recent poll showed that 61 per cent of respondents in Canada said the country should reduce its trade with China.
As China hosts Canada’s climate chief, lower diplomatic temperatures unlikely
In May the two countries exchanged tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats after Canada accused China of targeting a Conservative lawmaker ’s family in Hong Kong. With tensions lingering, bilateral relations could not get much worse.
But that leaves ample room for Guilbeault’s hope “that we can have open and frank conversations about a number of issues relating to climate change”.
