Your Honourable Pierre Marc Johnson, Chairman of the Board of the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations,

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

Good afternoon! It is a pleasure to be here at the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations. I understand that Ambassador Jennifer May also spoke here last month. And the fact that you have invited the ambassadors from both sides to speak on China-Canada relations within just two months demonstrates the importance you attach to this pair of relations. In China we often say, “Listening to both sides makes one enlightened”. I believe that through different perspectives, you will gain a deeper understanding of China-Canada relations. Today, I would like to share my views on China-Canada relations by drawing on my experience in the past five months since I arrived in this country.

Next year will mark the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Canada, as well as the 20th anniversary of the strategic partnership between our two countries. According to traditional Chinese practice, every five or ten years is an important time point for taking stock of, reviewing and looking ahead for the bilateral relations. Reviewing China-Canada relations at such a juncture, we need a longer-term and broader perspective, especially a correct perception of each other. Why? Because the current problems in China-Canada relations all resulted from mis-perception. Last month, Ambassador May said here that Canada does not regard China as an adversary. I would like to say that China has always regarded Canada as a friend and a partner, a strategic partner. Ambassador May also compared China to a dance partner. And I say since that we are dance partners, we can dance beautifully only if both sides show goodwill and dance in step with each other. In the “China-Canada Dance”, China’s steps have never changed. We believe it is important to advance China-Canada relations, and we view and develop our relations with Canada from a strategic and long-term perspective. This is China’s perception of its relations with Canada, which has been consistent and has never changed. We also believe that without correct perception, then opportunities might give way to challenges and small problems will escalate into big crises. But with correct perception, in the process of addressing challenges together, the two sides will find cooperation opportunities. Fifty-five years ago, the statesmen of our two countries opened the door of the China-Canada relationship with extraordinary political courage and vision. Twenty years ago, both sides decided to establish a strategic partnership between our two countries, which has benefited the people of both countries. This is an invaluable political legacy left for us by our predecessors. We must preserve and develop it with a high sense of responsibility, so as to not leave a China-Canada relationship of conflict to future generations.

Today, the world economic recovery is still sluggish, the international landscape is becoming increasingly complex, and geopolitical conflicts are frequent. “What’s going on with the world and what should we do about it?” To answer this question of the times, President Xi Jinping, with the future of human society in his mind, put forward the major initiative of building a community with a shared future for humankind. When I presented my credentials, the Right Honourable Governor General Mary Simon also observed that in a complex and turbulent world, the future of all countries is closely linked. This echoes with President Xi Jinping’s proposal of building a community with a shared future for humankind. Under the new circumstances, China is ready to work with the Canadian side to move forward the bilateral relations in the spirit of mutual respect, seeking common ground while putting aside differences, and mutually-beneficial cooperation, to build a healthy and stable bilateral relationship together, and to deliver more benefits to the two peoples and the world.

Mutual respect is a universally-recognized norm for state-to-state interactions. While no country in the world is perfect, no country is in the position to lecture others on what to do. The Chinese nation has cultivated a time-honored civilization in its over 5,000 years of history. We learn from all the good achievements of human civilization, and welcome all helpful advice and well-intentioned criticism. But we shall never accept any condescending lecturing from others, not to mention ill-intentioned smear and attack. China is willing to have candid exchanges with Canada on issues of mutual interest on the basis of mutual respect. I believe that as long as China and Canada respect each other’s national conditions and core interests, we will keep enhancing mutual trust and create a right foundation for the healthy development of China-Canada relations.

China and Canada have different histories, cultures and systems, and we are at different levels of economic development, so it is only natural that we have differences and disagreements. What really matters is to how we manage these differences and disagreements in a proactive and prudent manner and commit ourselves to seeking and expanding the common denominator between us. We should seek common ground on the basis of mutual understanding, and reserve differences in a constructive manner. I’m sure that as long as China and Canada engage in sincere dialogue, and accommodate and understand each other, we will effectively manage disagreements, and let cooperation, not disagreements, dominate the bilateral relationship.

China and Canada have highly complementary economic structures and resource endowments with respective comparative advantages. Over the years, our two countries have had fruitful cooperation in various fields, and the bilateral trade has continued to expand, with an increase of nearly 500 times since the establishment of diplomatic relations. China has been Canada’s second-largest trading partner for a long time, and in 2023 China was the only market that registered positive growth among Canada’s major export destinations. The two sides also have great prospects for cooperation in science and technology, green economy, clean energy, people-to-people exchanges and education, as well as in multilateral areas such as combating climate change and protecting biodiversity. Ancient Chinese philosophers once observed, cooperation leads to mutual benefit, while confrontation produces no winner. Politics and national security should not be the excuse of not advancing practical cooperation. China welcomes healthy competition, and opposes zero-sum game. I believe that as long as China and Canada adhere to open cooperation and reinforce each other, the pie of China-Canada mutually-beneficial cooperation will become bigger and bigger.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

This year, thanks to joint efforts from both sides, we see positive momentum in China-Canada relations.

In July this year, China hosted Foreign Minister Joly. Foreign Minister Wang Yi had an in-depth exchange on China-Canada relations and issues of common interest with her. And they reached a number of consensuses on the next stage of development of the bilateral relations, which has significantly promoted practical exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in various fields. Currently both sides are working fast to implement these consensuses and advance practical cooperation in solid steps.

In the first half of this year, China’s investment in Canada reached 6.7 billion Canadian dollars, an increase of 1,654% year on year. Canada’s investment in China amounted to about 900 million Canadian dollars, an increase of 21% year on year. From January to September this year, China-Canada trade totaled 67.1 billion US dollars, among which Canada’s export to China was 32.5 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 2.2%. Canadian brands such as Lululemon, Canada Goose, Arc’teryx and Tim Hortons are highly popular and are leading the fashion trends in China.

China and Canada have also had a lot of dialogue and cooperation outcomes in areas such as education, green economy and multilateral coordination. The two countries have reached an agreement on increasing direct flights. Airfares have been lowered, and more people are traveling between our two countries, which is good news for the people of both countries. China and Canada both advocate multilateralism and uphold globalization. China is willing to strengthen communication with Canada in multilateral mechanisms so as to enhance coordination on major international and regional issues.

In the past five months, I have met with many Canadian friends. Whether they are from federal or local governments, enterprises, schools or other organizations, they all tell me that they look forward to strengthening cooperation with China. Many of them have given me good advice on how to promote China-Canada relations, which have benefited me a lot and touched me deeply. My most striking impression is that there are many people who support China-Canada friendship, and China-Canada exchanges and cooperation have great potential. This is gives me full confidence in the future of China-Canada relations, but I am also clearly aware of the challenges we face. To build a healthy and stable China-Canada relationship that keeps moving forward, we must take good care of it together, keep building up positive factors, and jointly resolve risks and challenges. As the Chinese Ambassador to Canada, my mission is to advance China-Canada friendship and I look forward to having your support.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

I know that you are all very interested in the future of the Chinese economy, so allow me to spend a few more minutes on that. This year, China’s economy has remained stable and made solid progress. China continues to be an important engine driving the world’s economic growth, and remains one of the few good-performing major economies. In the first three quarters of this year, China’s GDP grew by 4.8% year on year, and has registered positive growth for nine consecutive quarters, a performance better than general market expectation. China is well on track to achieve the target of around 5% GDP growth for the whole year. Consumption and investment continue to recover, net exports are growing fast, and final consumption expenditure contributed 49.9% to economic growth in the first three quarters, driving up GDP growth by 2.4 percentage points.

In July this year, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was successfully held. At the session, China made systematic arrangements to further deepen reforms in a comprehensive manner and promote Chinese-style modernization. More than 300 important reform initiatives were put forward, all of which will be completed by 2029. In September, the Chinese government introduced a series of policies to stimulate the economy, such as stepping up counter-cyclical adjustments in fiscal and monetary policies, issuing and better utilizing ultra-long-term special treasury bonds and special bonds for local governments, and giving better play to the stimulative effect of government investment. These measures have stabilized the real estate market and boosted the capital market. While taking measures to boost consumption, China has focused on improving people’s life. Measures were taken to promote income growth among middle- and low-income groups, foster new types of consumption models, and support and regulate private entities in engaging in elderly care and child care industries, so as to ensure that the basic living needs of all our people are met. Efforts have also been made to further build a market-oriented, law-based and world-class business environment. This fully demonstrates that China has a lot of tools in its policy kit, and there is enough policy space.

Opening up is the distinctive feature of the Chinese-style modernization. China firmly supports free trade, resolutely opposes building walls and barriers and cutting off supply chains in international trade, and will never close its doors or turn to trade protectionism as some countries have. China has opened its door wider, and is steadily expanding its systematic opening up. We are aligning proactively with high-standard international economic and trade rules, and pushing forward reforms in the areas of property rights protection, industrial subsidies, government procurement, and finance. Over the past 10 years, China’s negative list for foreign investment access has been cut from 190 items to less than 31 items, and the total tariff level has been reduced to 7.3 percent, which is basically the same level of developed members of the WTO. Last year, China introduced 24 policy measures to keep foreign investment stable, the vast majority of which have been fully implemented or have made positive progress. In the first 8 months of this year, nearly 37,000 new foreign-invested enterprises were set up in China, a year-on-year increase of nearly 11.5 percent. China has now set up 41 ports open to the outside world in 19 provinces, and has implemented a 72-hour or 144-hour visa-free transit policy for travelers from 54 countries, including Canada. In the first half of this year, the number of foreign travelers entering China reached 14.64 million, up by 152.7 percent year on year. The number of Chinese outbound travelers is expected to reach 130 million this year, close to prior COVID number.

Next month, the 7th China International Import Expo and the 2nd China International Supply Chain Expo will be held in Shanghai and Beijing respectively. I know that many Canadian companies have already signed up to participate. China currently has a middle-income group of more than 400 million, which will double in the next decade or so. Looking ahead, China’s position as a global super-size market will be further consolidated, and China’s development will provide more and better opportunities for businesses from all over the world, including Canada. We welcome more Canadian companies to seize the opportunity to actively explore the Chinese market, and hope that the business communities of both countries will take this opportunity to promote exchanges and dialogues and find business opportunities for cooperation.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

Like I said at the beginning, next year will mark the 55th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and Canada, as well as the 20th anniversary of the strategic partnership. China stands ready to work with Canada to move forward the China-Canada relations and bring more benefits to the people of both of our countries.