Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou.Photo:VCG

Canada is now caught up in the China-US disputes and must find an effective way to open up new fronts of its relationship with China, Jack Austin, former chief of staff to former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and former member of Canada's Senate, said Tuesday.

The remarks were made during an online Canada-China Economic Forum on Tuesday, co-organized by the Optical Valley Institute for Free Trade and Simon Fraser University's Jack Austin Center for Asia Pacific Business Studies, aiming to "explore the role of Canada and China in the dynamic world economy."

In response to a question from the Global Times on how the two will cooperate under growing pressure from the US, Austin said: "We must find an effective way to open new aspects of our relationship with China, and in a way I think we have a role in pioneering this new kind of examination." 

Nevertheless, "all this is aspirational" while we are facing issues such as Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou, said Austin.

The remarks came as the relationship between China and Canada is strained, particularly over Meng, who was illicitly detained at Vancouver International Airport in December 2018 by Canadian authorities at the request of the US government. 

China-US fraught relations is a major challenge for Canada, Eugene Beaulieau, a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Calgary, told the forum.

However, scholars at the forum pointed out that the "strategy was quite difficult for Canada to make," since that Canada is so deeply integrated and dependent on the US, and therefore forced to go along with it. 

Although over the past years, Canada has also become increasingly dependent on China due to its diversification efforts, trade between the two is still not as large as that with the US, said Beaulieau.

As 2020 also marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Canada and China, Chinese experts said Canada could have been a beneficiary in the China-US disputes, if it makes the right choice.

China is now Canada's third most important export destination and import source. Top China's exports to Canada are mainly mechanical, electronic products and furniture, while top Canadian exports to China are natural resources.

Moreover, China's investment in Canada is mainly to purchase natural resources, whereas the Canadian investment in China is mainly for exploring the China market.

"The general economic complementarity between China and Canada determines the growing trend of bilateral trade investment," Chen Bo, Chutian Professor of Economics and Director of the Optical Valley Institute on Free Trade, told the forum Tuesday. 

China is also one of the key countries to realize Canada's diversification strategy in trade investment, Chen said, adding that the accountable economic cooperation rules are needed to ensure sustainable bilateral business growth.