Communiqués from the offices of Mélanie Joly and Wang Yi took upbeat tones after the two met in Beijing last week, noting the strong “people-to-people ties” between the countries and cooperation on trade, the environment and drugs. Joly’s visit to China was the first by a Canadian foreign minister since 2017. (The Logic)

Talking point: Diplomatic politeness aside, Canadian-Chinese relations still aren’t great. Canada will stick up for democracy and human rights, Joly’s account said; Canada should keep its nose out of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang, said Wang’s. The countries traded diplomatic expulsions in 2023, Canadian authorities regularly accuse China of cyber espionage and political interference, the country’s new top general warned that China is a military threat and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is holding meetings about raising trade barriers on Chinese electric vehicles. The Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times editorialized on the foreign ministers’ meeting by warning that Canadian policy on China is largely set by the United States and it’s Ottawa that really needs to change its attitude.