China watchers are expressing concern about Beijing’s recent messaging on bilateral relationships with Canada, as Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Oct. 31.
The Chinese readout of the meeting says Xi told Carney that both countries should “develop an objective and rational perception of one another, view each other in the correct way, and advance the bilateral relations in light of the common and long-term interests of both countries”—points not mentioned in the Canadian readout.
Mehmet Tohti, executive director of the Canada-based Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, says the Chinese framing of the meeting is a “diplomatic rebranding” of a position Xi previously expressed to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: that Canada must “create conditions” first for bilateral relations to improve….