Canadian PM's visit to China paves way for more pragmatic trade ties: scholar

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's official visit to China signals a policy shift towards building a more pragmatic relationship between the two countries, according to a Canadian researcher.

Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin an official visit to China through Saturday, which marks the first trip by a Canadian Prime Minister to the country in eight years.

Robert Hanlon, director and principal investigator of Canada and the Asia Pacific Policy Project (CAPPP) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Carney's visit indicates Canada is recalibrating its strategic perception of China, which could cement the foundation for the country's economic diversification efforts and boost the development of bilateral cooperation.

"I think it's a clear message that he has moved Canada's strategy to a much more pragmatic, interest-based, -focused relationship with our trading partners, moving away from values-based narratives that we might have heard on previous governments. Canada has spoken about moving from what the Prime Minister's Office is calling "from reliance to resilience", and that means diversifying our economies and our trade everywhere in the world. And so China being our second largest trading partner, it makes perfect sense for our PM to head to Beijing," he said.

The scholar also noted the huge cooperation potential between the two sides in economic and trade fields, citing Canada's efforts to step up shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the planned construction of an oil pipeline in Alberta which aims to increase export access to Asian markets. "Canada and China both share tremendous economic opportunities together and so finding ways to enhance our exports. Canada specifically looking to build out its LNG and oil, kind of export market. We know Canada is a major producer of critical minerals and China is a buyer. And so there's a lot of synergy between that kind of those kind of markets," he said.

Russian forces attacked Ukraine's energy infrastructure overnight on Saturday, for the second time in less than a week, Ukraine's Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

The strikes targeted the Burshtyn and Dobrotvir thermal power plants in western Ukraine, as well as substations and overhead transmission lines, the minister said.

He further said personnel unloaded units at nuclear power plants as a precautionary measure.

Ukraine's state-run energy company Ukrenergo has requested emergency assistance from Poland in the wake of the attack, Shmyhal added, while the company said it has imposed emergency power outages across most of the country.

The previous attack on Ukraine's energy facilities was carried out on Tuesday.