Canada on Tuesday welcomed its reinstatement to the approved travel list for groups of Chinese tourists by Beijing, which comes days after Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, hailing a “turning point” in the relations between the two countries.
As China made a slower recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic than many countries, it approved group travel for its citizens to dozens of countries. But in 2023, when it approved destinations for countries like the United States and United Kingdom, Canada was left off that list as allegations of Chinese foreign interference rankled Beijing.
“The granting of Approved Destination Status for group travellers to Canada by China marks another important step in the recalibrated bilateral relationship,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in a statement on Monday.
“Tourism plays an important role in fostering people-to-people ties, which are a foundation for broader mutual understanding and co-operation. Canada maintains high standards for travel safety and quality, and remains a welcoming, secure destination for Chinese visitors.”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning made the announcement Monday on behalf of the Chinese government in Beijing.
“The move will further promote people-to-people exchanges and deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and Canadian peoples,” she was quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post.
“We are willing to work with the Canadian side to provide greater convenience for cross-border travel, and we hope Canada will do the same by providing a safe and comfortable travel environment for Chinese tourists.”
Dialogue resumes between leaders
The development comes after Carney met with President Xi last week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, South Korea.
Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, paid two official visits to China in his first two years in office, but no meetings had previously taken place between the leaders of the two countries since 2017.
Relations soured between the countries soon after the Vancouver arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in 2018 on a U.S. extradition warrant in a corruption case.
Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea — the first of its kind between leaders of the two countries since 2017. Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, says while there were no breakthroughs on trade, this was an ‘important first step’ and a ‘turning point’ in the relationship.
Canadians Michael Kovrig, a diplomat, and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur who worked in North Korea and China, were detained in China days after on spying and other charges. Beijing denied the detentions were linked to the Huawei case.
Kovrig and Spavor were returned to Canada in September 2021, not long after the case against Wanzhou was dropped.
In 2023, China denied allegations that surfaced in media reports of foreign interference and targeting of certain federal politicians in Canada for disinformation campaigns. Those came as allegations emerged from a human rights group that Beijing operated clandestine stations around the world targeting dissidents from the Chinese diaspora, including in Canada.
Not long after, China announced the exclusion of Canada from a list of over 70 countries approved for group travel, with a Communist Party spokesperson telling CBC News at the time, that “the Canadian side has repeatedly hyped up the so-called ‘Chinese interference’ and rampant and discriminatory anti-Asian acts and words are rising significantly in Canada.”
Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, China’s outbound tourism was a valuable international commodity. Statistics from the World Tourism Organization indicated Chinese travellers accounted for 20 per cent of all international tourism spending in 2019.
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Chinese travellers not part of official groups continue to arrive in Canada, of course. Canadian airports in 2024 saw a 43 per cent increase in overnight visitors from China than in the previous year, according to Destination Canada.
During the federal leaders’ debate in the spring, Carney described China as the biggest foreign interference threat that Canada was facing.
Several challenges remain between the countries, including tariffs applied to a number of goods and economic sectors by both countries.
