Canadian Trade Minister David Emerson dismissed suggestions on Friday that Ottawa was not interested in improving economic relations with China.
Emerson, who said he plans to visit China next year with Foreign Minister Peter MacKay, also denied the government was split between those who emphasise human rights in dealing with Beijing and those who say the priority should be trade relations.
Emerson said Canada has neglected opportunities to increase trade with the region, but said those policies pre-dated the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which was elected in late January.
"The government understands that. The prime minister understands that. We have to make up for lost time," Emerson told a Vancouver meeting of business and political leaders on Asia-Canadian relations.
Emerson said Harper hoped to meet with Chinese officials at the upcoming APEC summit in Vietnam, adding it was scheduling issues that had hampered efforts for Canadian and Chinese leaders to meet earlier.
"All of this spinning that is going on that the government is not prepared to deal with China is not true," he told reporters after the address
But Emerson said trade diplomacy worked within a "constellation of relationship issues," and said while Canada needed to understand China, Beijing also needed to understand Canada.
"China needs to understand in a Canadian legal and constitutional context what a government can do and what a government cannot do," he told reporters.
Among the agreements he hinted was tied up by the "constellation" was one that would have Beijing grant approved destination status to Canada and make it easier for Chinese tourists to visit.
Emerson said issues such human rights would be prominent in the policy still being developed by the Conservatives, but he suggested they were still grappling with the "nitty gritty as to tactics."
"How do you pursue your human rights objectives, your democracy objectives, environmental objectives and so on, in a practical way that doesn't limit and hurt Canada's economic prospects?"
Emerson he hoped to make his trip to China in late January, but scheduling details still had to be worked out.