FACED with new global challenges, the leaders of China and Canada pledged yesterday to improve relations between their two nations.

China’s President Xi Jinping told visiting Prime Minister Mark Carney that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.

President Xi said: “It can be said that our meeting last year opened a new chapter in turning China-Canada relations toward improvement.” 

Mr Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, said better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as “under great strain.”

He called for a new relationship “adapted to new global realities” and co-operation in agriculture, energy and finance.

Those new realities reflect in large part the so-called “America first” approach of United States President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have targeted both the Chinese and Canadian economies. 

Mr Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the US at what he called “a time of global trade disruption.”