China's Foreign Ministry said today, Saturday, quoting its minister to his Canadian counterpart that China hopes to return relations with Canada to their course after years of tension in relations between them.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly yesterday, Friday, on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty foreign ministers' meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

During the meeting, Wang said that China and Canada were never competitors but partners. They pledged to drive Sino-Canadian relations back on track.

Wang pointed out that China was never a threat, and that healthy and stable relations between China and Canada are the shared aspiration of the two peoples and serve the common interests of both sides.

The senior Chinese diplomat said that China hopes Canada respects the facts and exercises caution in words and actions regarding issues related to China, and works with China to meet halfway to build mutual trust in order to restore Sino-Canadian relations to their proper course.

He pointed out that the two sides can enhance the success of the second phase of the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, and strengthen cooperation in combating the pandemic and building a global health community for all.

On her part, Joly said that Canada places great importance on its relations with China and is ready to work with China to enhance communication and jointly address shared concerns in a practical way to restore bilateral relations to their proper course.

Tensions escalated between China and Canada after Canada detained in 2018 an executive of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, based on an American warrant related to alleged violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

China, which said the accusation was fabricated, later arrested two Canadians on espionage charges. Canada rejected the accusations against them. The diplomatic standoff ended when the three were released in September 2021.

Last month, G7 leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pressured China to use its influence with Russia to end its attack on Ukraine and drop the "expanded" Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea.

Also in June, the Canadian military accused Chinese fighter jets of harassing its patrol aircraft while monitoring North Korean sanctions evasion operations.