Relations between Beijing and Ottawa cooled significantly in 2018 following the arrest of a senior Chinese tech company executive on the US’ behalf. Tensions were exacerbated this week after Canada’s parliament passed a non-binding resolution stating that China’s treatment of the Yughur minority constitutes a ‘genocide’.
The United States will try to ‘align with’ Canada to create a common approach to the common challenges posed by China to the two North American nations’ collective interests, a US official has said, their comments cited by Reuters.
US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are expected to sit down for Biden’s first virtual meeting with a foreign head of state later Tuesday, which ‘security threats’ posed by China, Iran, Russia and North Korea, as well as coronavirus and climate change, expected to be among the issues raised.
Trudeau is expected to raise the issue of two Canadian nationals being detained in China on espionage charges following Ottawa’s detention of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, in 2018 on the basis of a US arrest warrant.
“We expect the president, during the meeting, to highlight the strong and deep partnership between the United States and Canada as neighbours, friends and NATO allies,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki had told reporters on Monday.
Sputnik