AI Brief
- Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit to address concerns about foreign interference in Canada's affairs.
- Canada's spy agency previously concluded that China interfered in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian elections, a claim Beijing denies.
- Canada is seeking closer economic ties with China, following recent steps to ease trade tensions and reduce reliance on the United States.
OTTAWA: Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday he would stress to Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month that China and other countries should not interfere in Canada's internal affairs.
Carney said he would meet Xi on the sidelines of an APEC summit in Shenzhen on November 18-19.
In April 2025, Carney said China was one of the largest threats with respect to foreign interference. In 2024, a probe into meddling from abroad heard that Canada's spy agency concluded China had interfered in the 2019 and 2021 elections.
"The advantage of these meetings is you can raise issues directly and frankly. And I will be raising the importance with which we attach to the non-interference in our affairs by China and other countries," Carney told reporters.
Beijing has long denied it seeks to interfere in Canadian domestic affairs.
As part of a bid to reduce economic dependence on the United States, Canada is seeking tighter ties with China after a long spell of chilly bilateral relations.
In February, after a visit by Carney, China said it would suspend some tariffs on Canadian agricultural products imposed during a trade dispute.
