BEIJING: Canada’s foreign minister called for “stable” relations with China during a visit to Beijing aimed at patching up differences.

Melanie Joly met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Friday for a meeting she described as “constructive and productive” on social media platform X.

Relations between the two nations were strained in 2018 following the arrest by Canadian authorities of a manager of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and the imprisonment by Beijing of two Canadian nationals in a move widely seen as retaliation.

All three have since been released.

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Joly called for a “pragmatic approach towards China and the development of solid and stable bilateral relations”, according to a press release from her ministry.

“Relations between China and Canada have experienced difficulties in recent years and followed a tortuous path, this is not what China wants,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang told his counterpart.

It is Joly’s first trip to China since taking office in 2021.