Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he will tell Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month that China and other countries should not interfere in Canada’s internal affairs.
Speaking to reporters in Montreal on Tuesday 10 November, Mr Carney said he expected to meet Mr Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen on 18 and 19 November, and that he intended to raise the issue himself.
“The advantage of these meetings is you can raise issues directly and frankly,” Mr Carney said. “And I will be raising the importance with which we attach to the non-interference in our affairs by China and other countries.”
He added that he would also use the meeting to discuss the global security climate and the economic partnership between the two countries.
A long-running concern over interference
Foreign interference has been a sensitive subject in Canadian politics for several years. In April 2025, Mr Carney described China as one of the largest threats facing Canada when it came to foreign interference.
A public inquiry in 2024 heard that Canada’s spy agency had concluded China interfered in the country’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Beijing has long denied that it seeks to interfere in Canadian domestic affairs.
The planned meeting in Shenzhen comes as Canada looks to deepen its relationship with China. As part of an effort to reduce its economic dependence on the United States, Ottawa has been seeking closer ties with Beijing after a long period of strained relations between the two countries.
In February, following a visit by Mr Carney, China said it would suspend some of the tariffs it had imposed on Canadian agricultural products during a trade dispute.
Carney’s wider trip
Mr Carney last met Mr Xi in January 2026. The Shenzhen meeting will take place during a multi-country trip by the Canadian prime minister running from 11 to 19 November.
The encounter is expected to be closely watched in both capitals, as the two leaders weigh a difficult balance: rebuilding trade and diplomatic ties while speaking openly about an issue that has strained trust between their countries.
