Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly made an unannounced trip to China on Thursday at the request of Beijing, as the Communist Party of China (CPC) undergoes a major corruption purge.Joly is expected to meet with Wang Yi, China’s foreign affairs minister, for the first meeting of its kind in seven years. This comes as tensions between Canada and Beijing are ramped up in the wake of the Parliament Hill spy scandal that has been unfolding in Canadian politics the last few years and disclosed by commission to the public in June. It’s the first trip by a senior Canadian cabinet minister in an official capacity — other than Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault — since 2017.The trip further comes at a time when President Xi Jinping is systematically quashing corruption within the CPC, as it has been revealed multiple top ministers have been ousted this week. The unscheduled meeting was disclosed by an announcement from China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian. Joly will be in China from Thursday to Saturday, and went to Beijing at the request of the foreign minister, said Lin. “During Foreign Minister Joly’s visit to China, the two sides will have in-depth communication on China-Canada relations and issues of mutual interest and work for the improvement and growth of the bilateral relationship,” said Jian at a news conference in China, per Xinhua News. Joly and her counterpart will discuss “Canada-China relations as well as complex global and regional security issues,” reads a subsequent statement from Global Affairs Canada. The department had earlier said Joly would be in South Korea July 16, the Epoch Times reported, but no following trip to Beijing was mentioned at the time. “As the world faces increasingly complex and intersecting global issues, Canada is committed to engaging pragmatically with a wide range of countries to advance our national interests and uphold our values,” said Joly in the Global Affairs release. “As described in Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, we must maintain open lines of communication and use diplomacy to challenge where we ought to, while seeking cooperation in areas that matter most to Canadians. I look forward to a productive meeting.”The CPC has been found to have interfered with two Canadian elections and has collected parliamentarians as foreign spies, the Foreign Interference Inquiry has heard in past weeks. .Joly’s visit further comes as the CPC is undergoing a major corruption overhaul within the upper ranks of its party. People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force Chief of Staff Sun Jinming was expelled Thursday, the same day Joly’s talks with the foreign minister kicked off. The CPC announced its latest anti-corruption investigation, amidst a string of multiple scandals. Sun was a senior general in charge of Beijing’s nuclear arsenal, per the South China Morning Post. He is one of many top officials to be purged in the last several months; after Xi ascended to power in 2013, he pledged to comb through his government and eject any corruption found, in an attempt to purify the party. Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign has of late been targeting the military. Disgraced generals joined by Sun are former Commander Li Yuchao and his predecessor former Commander Zhou Yaning, and former Rocket Force Director Wei Fenghe.
