China Resumes Group Tours to Canada Following Carney–Xi Meeting
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China has lifted its suspension on group travel to Canada after the two countries’ leaders met for the first time last week.
Beijing had left Canada off its list of approved destinations in 2023, when it lifted a pandemic-era ban on group tours to more than 60 countries, citing strained relations after Ottawa accused China of foreign interference–allegations that Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference later confirmed.
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Beijing’s latest move comes after Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in South Korea last week, where both sides committed to “renewing the relationship between their two countries in a pragmatic and constructive way,” according to the Canadian readout of the meeting.
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Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in a statement on Nov. 3 that Canada welcomes China’s decision, describing it as “another important step in the recalibrated bilateral relationship.”
Diplomatic relations between the countries had been deteriorating since 2018, when China arbitrarily detained Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in apparent retaliation for the detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition warrant.
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Recent revelations of China’s foreign interference and escalating transnational repression operations in Canada have further strained relations. Beijing was identified as “the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada’s democratic institutions” by the public inquiry report released earlier this year.
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Recent trade tensions have also weighed on bilateral relations, with China imposing steep tariffs on Canadian canola and other agricultural products in retaliation for Ottawa’s tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and metals.
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Carney had noted Canada’s exclusion from China’s list of travel destinations during a Nov. 1 press conference following his meeting with Xi, saying the talks were meant to establish “a relationship at the highest level for the first time in eight years.” He added that he did not expect progress on trade tensions or on barriers to “people-to-people exchange or tourism.”
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Following a visit to Beijing last month, Anand said Canada is in a “strategic partnership” with China and that Ottawa is “going to find areas where we can further co-operate.” Her comments were criticized by the Conservatives, who said the remarks appeared to contradict Carney’s comments during the election that China is Canada’s “biggest security threat.”
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“Can the minister reconcile these two things, or is this another example of the prime minister saying one thing during the election and doing another afterward?” Tory MP Michael Chong, his party’s foreign affairs critic, said in the House of Commons on Oct. 23. Chong, who has been critical of Beijing’s rights abuses, has himself been targeted by Beijing.
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Anand responded that the security of Canadians is always “top of mind” for her government. “At the same time, Canada will continue to become the strongest economy in the G7, and the way we do that is to diversify our supply chains while making sure we protect our citizens at home,” she said.
When questioned on Oct. 30 at a parliamentary committee about her comments on closer cooperation with China and about Beijing’s human rights violations, foreign interference, and anti-democratic policies, Anand said that “in my conversations, bilaterally and multilaterally, I never shy away from raising these important issues.”
That day, Anand announced Canada would update its Indo-Pacific strategy in line with Ottawa’s objective of doubling non-U.S. exports in the next 10 years.
Canada’s previous Indo-Pacific strategy, released in November 2022, identified China as an “increasingly disruptive global power,” citing Beijing’s efforts “to shape the international order into a more permissive environment for interests and values that increasingly depart from ours.” “Canada has experienced, like others, the impact of coercive diplomacy and non-market trade practices, such as forced labour,” reads the strategy document. It adds that “Canada has been compelled to adjust warnings to Canadians travelling to China, as well as to the business community, to account for the growing risk of arbitrary application of Chinese laws.”
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Canada signed a defence co-operation agreement with the Philippines on Nov. 2 that would allow both countries’ armed forces to work closer together by participating in operations and exercises in each other’s territories, according to a National Defence press release. Both Canada and the Philippines are critics of China’s increasingly coercive actions in the disputed South China Sea, which is a major trade route.
Beijing objected to the pact, saying that defence cooperation between countries should not “target any third party or harm their interests.”
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Noé Chartier, Paul Rowan Brian, and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
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