Chinese media has reported Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly was severely “reprimanded” during her unannounced three-day visit to China on request of Beijing. Joly told the Globe and Mail it was she who was “stern” with her Chinese counterpart Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and said she “raised very firmly” the matter of Chinese interference in Canadian elections. However, a news story posted on Weixin (WeChat) News conflates European, American and Canadian politics, described as “dirty diplomacy,” and reported Joly “returned home in disappointment.” The publication noted Joly “did not expect that China would become so tough,” and that Western countries need to understand China is doing politics differently than it did in the past. This was reportedly Joly’s second and most recent “reprimand” where Beijing “explicitly asked her to reflect on her actions.” According to Weixin, Wang put her through the ringer, “emphasizing that the bilateral relationship has gone through many difficulties and twists and turns, which is something China does not want to see.” “The Canadian side needs to seriously reflect on it,” said Wang, according to the publication. The first “reprimand” came in 2022 when Wang met with Joly at the Bali G20. He reportedly told her at the time, “in the past few years, China-Canada relations have encountered serious difficulties. The root cause is that Canada has a wrong understanding of China,” pointing out that Canada need to give serious thought as to “whether to regard China as a partner or an opponent.”The Chinese media outlet reported “at that time, Joly stood there in a daze, not knowing how to respond, and the prepared speech became a piece of waste paper.”The Weixin article referred to the Government of Canada’s brief release about the meeting, and denoted Canada’s contribution to the meeting was “very short” — “which shows that Canada did not bring much substantive results to the talks.”“At present, China is not interested in what Canada says, but only cares about what the Trudeau government does,” reads the article, asserting “the level of Canada's deep reflection has not satisfied the Chinese side.”“Because Canada's diplomatic dialogues are different in their words and deeds,” wrote Weixin. “During the seven years when the two sides had no mutual visits, the Trudeau government was busy pursuing anti-China policies while blaming other countries for filling the gap in China-Canada trade.”“Therefore, when the Trudeau government makes trouble, China will pinch bilateral trade. Since Trudeau came to power in 2015, although China has remained Canada's second largest trading partner, the annual trade deficit with China has been as high as US$10 billion, and there has not been a single year of net profit.” According to Chinese media, “the Trudeau government has become a very loyal dog of the United States, following it closely,” though “it neither solved the problem of trade deficit nor prevented Trudeau's approval rating from declining.”“He has messed up China-Canada relations, and the incident of Canada detaining Meng Wanzhou has aroused strong dissatisfaction from China,” states the publication, referring to Canada’s detainment of Huawei’s Meng on US extradition orders. China responded by detaining two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig. “When cooperating with the United States in hyping up the so-called ‘China threat theory,’ it often adopts a more radical stance than its master. Bringing dog food to ‘show loyalty’ to the United States has become the diplomatic instinct of the Trudeau government.”“It is only China's previous friendly diplomatic tone that makes them think that there is no risk in attacking China and that they do not need to bear losses.”“It is easy to understand why no Canadian foreign minister has visited China in seven years. They cannot come to Beijing whenever they want.”Another thing China “will not tolerate” is Canada catering to the West's "political correctness,” which “damages China-Canada relations,” the article states, referring to the West’s obsession with inclusivity and identity politics. “China's diplomatic style is changing and our dog-beating sticks are also being upgraded,” states the article. Meanwhile, upon her return home, Joly told the Globe she told Yi Canada won’t “tolerate any form of interference in our democracy” — but that the 3.5-hour meeting did not break any new ground. She blamed tensions on Canadians’ negative perceptions of China. “There are many things that we need to do before a formal reset. There are too many aspects core to our relationship that need to be addressed, including foreign interference, including trade issues,” said Joly. “It’s not the government. It’s more Canadian perceptions toward China, which are negative right now. And it’s important for China to understand that.”As for foreign interference, Joly said she “ raised it very firmly, and specifically.”“Because this is core to our national interests. So I said clearly that we would not tolerate any form of interference in our democracy, intimidation of our people and our politicians,” said Joly. “I was able to present clear examples, and therefore was able to address directly the situation with him,” she said. Wang denied China interfered with elections in other countries. “I am not saying that they’re accepting of what Canada is presenting. They know this is core to our national interests. And that was the number one issue that I raised with him.”
