【Text/Observer Network Ju Feng】
Canada's National Post reported on October 26 that the new cabinet of the federal government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was sworn in in Ottawa on the same day. The new cabinet is composed of the Prime Minister and 38 ministers, of which the foreign minister, defense minister and other key positions have been adjusted. The foreign minister is Mélanie Joly ( Chinese : Jomeilan , 42.
Qiao Meilan Image source: The surging image
This is Canada's fifth foreign minister in six years, but Jolly has been in the Cabinet several times, serving as Minister of Cultural Heritage and Minister of Economic Development and Official Language Affairs.
After taking the oath of office, Jolly was asked by reporters about the priorities of her work after taking office, and she mentioned the recovery of the new crown epidemic, climate change and "social inclusion".
Referring to China, Jolly said she "has no illusions" about China. "We are on high alert," she said. （Our eyes are wide open）”
However, several Canadian diplomatic experts told The National Post that Jolly must strategically consider a key question, namely the growing relationship between the United States and China, and what this means for Canada's relationship with China and the United States.
"No matter who is Canada's foreign minister, the first priority is always the United States," said Jeremy Kinsman, Canada's former ambassador to the United Kingdom and the European Union. ”
Kim Nossal, professor emeritus of international relations at Queen's University in Canada, also said jolly would have to make strategic decisions about "where Canada is in the latest and strifeed relationship between China and the United States." ”
In Canada's Cabinet, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is one of the positions with the highest "turnover rate". Jolly is already the fifth minister in 6 years. Former Foreign Minister Garno failed to enter the current cabinet.
Nosal said such a high rate of turnover was a nuisance for Jolly and "quite a problem for Canadian foreign policy."
Peggy Mason, a former Canadian diplomat to the United Nations, cautioned that after "China 'released' the two michaels," Canada had an opportunity to get Canada-China relations back on track. ”
Mason said, "In diplomatic terms, you have to put a minister who is very experienced, preferably experienced in the international arena. This minister needs to be confident, but it also takes time to polish. You can't start leading right away, you need to be very 'knowledgeable'. ”
Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada's former ambassador to China, said Canada must then decide to what extent it should engage on a range of issues, including many security-related issues, how the United States will continue to "target" China, and the new security architecture that is changing in the Indo-Pacific region. ”
Jolly, a former lawyer, ran for mayor of Montreal in 2013 and entered the Canadian political scene. She received the second highest approval rating that year, much to the surprise of many. Before joining politics, she had no background in international relations, but she had international experience as Minister of Cultural Heritage and had contacts with China.
In 2017 and 2018, Jolly visited China twice as Minister of Cultural Heritage to promote Cultural Exchanges between China and Canada.
2017 Embassy of Canada Weibo
During Ruoli's visit to China in early 2017, he met with officials such as Luo Shugang, then Minister of Culture, and Liu Yuzhu, then director of the China Cultural Relics Bureau. In an interview with The Paper, Joli bluntly said, "China is our top priority market. At the same time, the Canadian Institute of Conservation of Cultural Heritage also held a handover ceremony on January 18 of that year, returning to China a wood carving of an ancient Chinese building, a ichthyosaur fossil and a Triassic fish bone fossil.
From April 9 to 14, 2018, Jolly led a Canadian cultural and creative industry trade delegation of 60 enterprises to visit China for the second time. This is also the first canadian government delegation in this category to visit in the past 10 years, hoping to deepen cooperation and exchanges between the two countries in this field.
At that time, Jolly said in an interview with the Canadian media "Toronto Star" in Beijing that "it is very important to believe that the steady development of trade (between China and Canada) is very important... The purpose of the trip is to help Canadian cultural and creative enterprises profit from the huge demand for entertainment consumption in China's expanding middle class. ”
However, in the past two years, the occurrence of the Meng Wanzhou incident and the continuous slander and smear of China by Canadian anti-China politicians in the field of domestic and international public opinion have rapidly deteriorated the relations between the two countries.
Former Canadian ambassador to China Saint Jacques said Jolly took over as foreign minister at a time when Canada was "aphasia" in foreign policy. "In recent years, Canada has tied its hands in trade agreement negotiations with the United States because it does not want to provoke the United States. At the same time, I don't want to 'say too much' to provoke China. ”
He criticized, "I don't think Trudeau understands the importance of foreign policy. ”
Trudeau's Liberal Party won the federal election in late September but failed to win a majority of the house of representatives, thus perpetuating a minority government. On the 26th, the new government led by Trudeau completed the swearing-in ceremony in the presence of Governor Mary Simon.
On the 26th, a group photo of the new cabinet members of Canada Photo source: The paper
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