PM praises ‘essential’ media at end of China trip

GUANGZHOU, CHINA— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau capped off his trip to China with a parting shot on the importance of the free press, praising the “essential role” of journalism that challenges politicians and informs a country’s citizens.

Trudeau made the remarks Thursday in response to a question about an editorial in China’s Global Times, an English-language tabloid that is sometimes seen as a mouthpiece for the country’s ruling Communist Party. Published Wednesday, the piece attacked the “superiority and narcissism” of the Canadian media for focusing on China’s “ideology” in the context of exploratory talks on launching trade negotiations.

“You play an essential role, a challenge function, an information function, and it’s not easy at the best of times,” Trudeau said at a news conference on the sidelines of the Fortune Global Forum, an elite business summit taking place in the sprawling cityscape of southern China’s Pearl River Delta.

“It’s an essential role that you play in the success of a society.”

Trudeau’s praise came at the conclusion of a four-day visit to China that saw him meet with the country’s most powerful leaders in Beijing before travelling south to Guangzhou to pitch Canada as an investment destination for hundreds of business executives.

But while his trip has focused heavily on the still-unsuccessful push to launch trade negotiations with China, human-rights campaigners in Canada have called on Trudeau to raise concerns about the authoritarian government’s limits on freedom of expression and other political liberties that are upheld in Western democracies.

Earlier this week in Beijing, Trudeau said that he is promoting human rights in China simply by holding news conferences in a country where the media and government are closely linked. “This is something I demonstrate all over the world,” he added.

The prime minister also said he raised human-rights issues in discussions with China’s President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang this week. He said that he also pressed Xi on the cases of Canadian citizens who are imprisoned in China, including the case of John Chang, a wine seller from British Columbia who was jailed last year on allegations of smuggling. Chang’s wife, Allison Lu, has been barred from leaving the country.

“I’ve ensured that consular cases of Canadians in difficulty overseas are followed much more closely by the Prime Minister’s Office than has been done in the past,” Trudeau said. “I am much more active in my exchanges with global leaders to address and seek to resolve consular cases.”