Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi say they want to find common ground and maintain communication despite tensions across the Pacific.

The two spoke on Thursday, four months after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said rapprochement with China was impossible, in part because of concerns about foreign interference.

This call was made at the request of Mr^Me Joly and the minister's office say it is part of their promise to take a pragmatic approach to diplomacy and continue to speak with countries with which Ottawa is at odds.

Both countries acknowledged the ongoing diplomatic tensions in their statements, but suggested that the other side was behind the tensions.

However, both are committed to maintaining open channels of communication.

The two ministers also discussed the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and cooperation in the fight against climate change.

The two countries tasked their officials to advance next steps, such as increasing people-to-people exchanges between China and Canada and cooperation in trade and biodiversity.

Beijing detained Canadian citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig from late 2018 to fall 2021 and imposed multi-year import bans on certain Canadian imports, widely seen as retaliation for the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition warrant.

The Chinese government last year excluded Canada from a move to ease restrictions on group travel abroad, arguing Ottawa had made “exaggerated” allegations of foreign interference.

An English translation of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's statement on Thursday published in state media quoted Wang as saying that the two countries have significant influence in the Asia-Pacific region. He said Canada and China do not have conflicting interests or historic battles and outlined three ways Ottawa could improve its relations with Beijing.

China offers opportunities to improve relations

The first is that Canada admits it has caused a diplomatic rift, although Mr. Wang has not explained why.

Liberals disagree with this characterization and argue that China represents different values ​​and is disrupting the global order. Wang says China does not question international rules but rather seeks development.

The second is “mutual respect,” which he said includes recognizing Taiwan as part of China and working together constructively “so that differences do not dominate bilateral relations.”

The third is to focus on “win-win cooperation,” such as avoiding politicization of trade and “cross-security economic issues.” The demand comes as the United States and its allies restrict China's access to certain microchip technologies and the ownership of foreign assets by Chinese state-owned companies.

Mr. Trudeau would not say whether the U.S. semiconductor bans went beyond national security concerns and were instead aimed at hindering Beijing's economic growth.

To watch in the video