Beijing.- The Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, had a telephone conversation last night with his Canadian counterpart, Mélanie Joly, from whom he asked for “rationality” and “mutual respect” to channel the battered bilateral relations.

“There are no historical disputes or conflicts of interest between us. The difficult situation in bilateral relations is not something China wants, nor is it a consequence of China. But Canada must understand China in the right way,” Wang said during the conversation, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Wang called on Canada to “respect each other” and be “objective and rational” in resolving differences between the two.

“China is open to dialogue,” Wang said during the call, according to the statement, provided that it is “on an equal footing” and with a view to “enhancing trust and dispelling doubts.” .

According to the note, Joly assured that Canada was willing to adopt a more “open, pragmatic and constructive” attitude to lead bilateral relations as well as to promote trade, deepen economic cooperation and work on environmental protection.

The latest diplomatic crisis between Canada and China began in late 2022, when the North American country's media began leaking documents from Canadian intelligence services (CSIS) accusing Beijing of interference in the 2019 and 2021 general elections .

This led to the expulsion in March of Chinese diplomat in Ottawa Zhao Wei for alleged interference in the North American country's internal affairs, to which Beijing responded by doing the same to the Canadian consul in Shanghai.

Ottawa and Beijing also suffered a serious diplomatic crisis in 2018 due to the case of Huawei's financial director, Meng Wanzhou, arrested in Vancouver (Canada) at the request of the United States, and of two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, arrested in 2018. China. .

And in 2023, China presented an official protest in response to the incursion of a Canadian military plane into its airspace near the island that the Asian giant calls Chiwei, belonging to the Senkaku archipelago (Diaoyu for Beijing).