Canada to enhance relations with China
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E-mail Xinhua, February 6, 2012
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he expects to enhance the China-Canada strategic partnership during his visit to China next week, the second since he took office in 2006.
In a written interview with Xinhua, Harper said Friday that he greatly enjoyed his first visit to China, which took him to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong in December 2009 and led to a return visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao in June 2010.
Important second visit to China
"I am looking forward to my second visit to China, as is my wife Laureen," Harper said.
Demonstrating the importance of his second visit, which will take him to Beijing, Guangzhou and Chongqing from Feb. 7 to 11, Harper is bringing a large delegation of cabinet ministers and lawmakers, including Foreign Minister John Baird, International Trade Minister Ed Fast, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Minister of State for Seniors Alice Wong.
Also traveling with him will be MPs Wai Young, Chungsen Leung, Costas Menegakis, John Carmichael, Michael Chong, and Daryl Kramp, as well as a large business delegation with representatives from the energy, transport, education and many other sectors.
"As you know, our country is looking for new markets for our goods and services and China and the entire Asia-Pacific region is an area of tremendous opportunity," Harper said. "We hope to expand on our strategic partnership with China and, in particular, we hope to deepen the economic and trade ties between our two countries."
Achievements already made
"I am pleased with the progress that we've made in our strategic partnership," Harper said, adding that a key to that success had been the frequent contacts and visits between the two governments, which totaled 24 at leader and ministerial levels on the Canadian side.
"This dialogue and interaction has led to real achievements, particularly on the economic front. The numbers are up, and up significantly, in key areas," Harper said.
On the economic front, the two countries pledged to work together to strengthen economic ties through the Canada-China Economic Partnership Working Group.
Since 2009, Canada has opened six new trade offices in China - Chengdu, Nanjing, Qingdao, Shenyang, Shenzhen and Wuhan.
China has opened a new consulate general in Montreal.
"The opening of these new trade offices in China is a tangible recognition of the importance Canada places on establishing closer relations with emerging centers, in addition to enhancing Canada's ability to support Canadian companies in China," Harper said.
Canada's official statistics show China is Canada's second largest individual trading partner after the United States, and bilateral trade is expanding rapidly.
Since 2005, two-way merchandise trade with China has grown by almost 60 percent, and has held strong throughout the global economic crisis. Between 2005 and 2010, Canadian merchandise exports to China grew by some 83 percent, from 7.2 billion to 13.2 billion Canadian dollars.
In 2010, the bilateral trade volume reached 57.8 billion Canadian dollars, accounting for 7.2 percent of Canada's trade and representing a 13.7 percent increase over 2009.
Foreign direct investment between Canada and China continues to increase dramatically, particularly in the resource and financial services sectors, reaching almost 19 billion Canadian dollars in 2010.
On the people-to-people front, Harper said, China had granted Canada Approved Destination Status (ADS) and the two nations agreed to strengthen cooperation in health, agriculture, crime and the environment.
More than 232,000 Chinese travelers arrived in Canada in the first 11 months of 2011, a 24 percent increase over the same period in 2010. China's Hainan Airlines and Southern Airlines launched direct flights from Beijing to Toronto and from Guangzhou to Vancouver in 2010 and 2011, respectively.
The number of Chinese students in Canada has also grown significantly in recent years, increasing by 35.1 percent between 2006 and 2010. In 2010, there were 61,222 Chinese students in Canada, representing close to 28 percent of the international students and contributing almost 1.9 billion Canadian dollars to the local economy.
While welcoming large numbers of immigrants from China, Canada also deported Lai Changxing and other major crime suspects to China as a result of bilateral anti-crime cooperation.
"All of these are positive signs," Harper said.
Harper also hailed the increasing numbers of visits between Canada and China. "The more contact we have between our people, the deeper the understanding and ties will be between our two countries," Harper said, adding that, with more than a million Canadians of Chinese descent, Chinese culture is well-represented in Canada and Chinese-Canadians have made many great contributions to Canada.
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