Canada says world is watching China’s Ukraine stance, but receives warning about Taiwan

First phone call between Wang Yi and Melanie Joly, the Chinese and Canadian foreign ministers, since releases of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou and the ‘two Michaels’

Chinese statement urges Canada not to ‘allow external disturbances to affect ties’

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Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly told her Chinese counterpart that all countries should denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Photo: AP

Published: 7:30pm, 6 Apr 2022

Canada said countries were looking closely at China’s position on Ukraine, but was urged by Beijing to “adopt a correct attitude” about Taiwan, after a first telephone call in months between the two nations’ foreign ministers.

Following Tuesday’s call, the first since the releases of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou and the “two Michaels”, a Canadian statement said Foreign Minister Melanie Joly had highlighted to counterpart Wang Yi “that all countries should denounce [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, which is in clear and direct violation of the United Nations Charter”.

“Canada and the world are closely looking at China’s actions and next steps,” it said.

But Beijing’s statement, which devoted only its final paragraph to the Ukraine crisis, said Wang gave suggestions to improve ties that included warning Canada not to “allow external disturbances to affect ties with China”.

The two countries should “respect each other’s core interests and refrain from setting new obstacles to China-Canada relations”, Wang was quoted as saying by the Chinese foreign ministry.