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Mr. Fang suggested the two countries also work together on the Ring of Fire, a large
chromite deposit north of Thunder Bay. China could use the minerals, he said, if
Ontario can get the necessary rail line built to haul the ore out of the Ring’s
remote location.
TORONTO — Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne will make a full-court press for trade in China next week as she seeks to expand her province’s sluggish economy and wean it off its long-standing dependence on the American market.
The trip unfolds against a backdrop of heightened tension in Sino-Canadian relations. Ottawa and Beijing have accused each other of espionage in recent months, while China continues to grapple with lingering pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. And Ms. Wynne, who is making her first overseas trip as Premier, is pledging not to shy away from raising thorny human-rights issues during her visit.
“I absolutely support peoples’ right to freedom of speech and the right to gather peacefully. I’ve said that to Chinese representatives here, I will say that in China,” she said in an interview at her Queen’s Park office.
Ms. Wynne will begin her trip in Nanjing and Shanghai, before heading to Beijing to meet up with Quebec Premier Phillipe Couillard and Robert Ghiz of Prince Edward Island. Between them, they will bring more than 200 Canadian entrepreneurs, academics and others in a wide-ranging effort to drum up business .
Mr. Ghiz contends such an ostentatious exercise in partnership-building is the best path to democracy. “When it comes to what’s happening in Hong Kong, if we want to influence decision-making over there, having relationships is extremely important. … it’s much easier to discuss difficult issues if you’re discussing them among friends.”
Their positions roughly line up with Ottawa’s, where Foreign Minister John Baird has come down on the side of the protesters.
But Fang Li, China’s consul general in Toronto, said politicians’ time is better spent talking about trade, leaving Chinese internal politics alone.
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