China has a message for the Northwest Territories

The Chinese diplomat with responsibility for Northwest Territories relations headed north this week with a message that, as China-Canada relations warm, the country is ready to collaborate.

In recent years, headlines about China and the Northwest Territories have tended to revolve around perceived or actual hostility. For example, an NWT mine agreeing to sell some of its output to a Chinese firm resulted in a form of federal intervention. Cybersecurity experts list China alongside Russia as a main threat to Canada’s Arctic interests and communities. Canada frets about China trying to offer small communities help with infrastructure as a “foot in the door.”

At the same time, China is a significant source of tourism revenue for the territory, Yellowknife has a Chinese community, and Chinese firms supply big-ticket items like barges to the NWT.

Zhao Liying, the consul general of the People’s Republic of China in Calgary since 2023, arrived in Yellowknife on Tuesday for 24 hours of meetings. Top of that list was time with territorial industry minister Caitlin Cleveland, where Zhao said tourism was a focus. (The GNWT noted the meeting on a public list of ministerial commitments but did not respond to a request to interview Cleveland about it.)

Portraying Prime Minister Mark Carney as having reset relations after a downward spiral during Justin Trudeau’s tenure, Zhao wanted to talk about collaboration and friendship. Pressed to respond to critics of China’s human rights record, its economic approach and the perception that China does not often act in Canada’s best interest, Zhao reiterated: “What we want is a win-win collaboration.”

What that kind of cooperation looks like appeared to be clearer in southern Canada than in the North, where Zhao focused primarily on cultural ties, extending even to the Snowcastle and its slightly larger-scale Chinese equivalent.

Below, read a transcript of the interview.

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This interview was recorded on October 13, 2026. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Ollie Williams: What brings you to Yellowknife?

Zhao Liying: Our consulate-general, we cover Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories. One of our important missions is to get connected with local governments, local business people, and to be the bridge and connector, bringing our two sides from Canada and China together.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Mark Carney made a very important visit to China. Our two leaders reached a very important consensus on advancing the new China-Canada strategic partnership. Quite some documents have been signed covering trade, agriculture, energy, tourism, people-to-people contacts.

Our mission is to make all the great consensus reached by our two leaders into projects, into actions. That’s why we are here – to talk with the local government, business people, the media, and to see how we can work together and to bring our two sides, our two peoples closer.

Not so long ago, China and Canada were two countries that seemed deeply unfriendly, at best. What do you think changed?

Last year, we celebrated 55 years of diplomatic relations between China and Canada. So our two sides and our two peoples, we enjoy long-term friendship. Of course, yes, there have been some up and downs in the last couple of years, but still, the friendly basis is there. During my term – now almost four years in Calgary – I feel the friendship between our two peoples.

I think it’s time for us to work together because our two economies are really complementary one to another. I think if we work together, we can help each other and benefit from each other, bring growth, bring development to our two peoples.

From the figures we have for the first six months of this year, our bilateral trade has been increasing. Especially, Canada’s exports to China have increased tremendously, more than 30 percent – more and more crude oil, natural gas, canola, barley, wheat, beef are going to China.

These collaborations, I think, will bring growth, development and jobs here, but also our people will benefit from the high-quality products that Canada can provide.

Thinking about the totality of that trade picture, if I said the United States has helped bring Canada and China together, would you agree?

Our relationship is based on our two sides of collaboration.

Sure, but I think I would probably be fair in saying Canada and China are two of the countries that have done the most to stand up to some of the US trade policies right now. Isn’t that right?

Yes, but still, Canada and China, we enjoy a long-term friendship and cooperation. So our collaboration is based on our two sides’ basic interest.

When you listed all the different exports from Canada to China just then, the Northwest Territories provides none of them. What is your interest in the Northwest Territories?

I think tourism is one of them. On our way this morning to Yellowknife on the plane, I think more than half of the people on the plane were Chinese people. Our people coming here to see the northern lights. That will help our two sides and our two peoples get to know each other better. China, we offer 30 days visa-free for Canadian citizens.

You had a meeting with the NWT’s tourism minister, Caitlin Cleveland, earlier today. She’s also the industry minister. She’s also the education minister. What did you talk about?

How we can work together, help our people get to know each other better, work together to benefit from each other’s development, education, tourism and trade, economic relationship. There are a lot of things that we can work together on.

One other thing is to take advantage of the long winter because in Harbin, in the northern part of China, we have an annual winter snow and ice festival. We know here in Yellowknife you have the Snowcastle annual event. Maybe that’s something where we can work together to take advantage of the long winter we have.

When you talk with our minister about partnerships and collaborations, is there one you can point to?

Also cultural or arts collaborations. We know that here we have Indigenous people. They have their own cultural heritage. Also in China we have 56 ethnic groups.

Our majority people are Han people, but we have 55 other ethnic groups. They have their own language. They have their own costume. They have their own heritage and jewelleries. In the cultural sector and in the arts, we can have more collaborations and help our two sides get to know each other better and learn from each other.

The portrait I think a lot of people in Canada would understand of ethnic minorities in China is that sometimes they aren’t treated very well, and I think here of Uyghur people, for example. I also want to ask you about some of the other concerns people often have about China. We hear a lot, for example, about Chinese interests in our mining sector. In the very recent past, for example, the Canadian government has intervened to purchase materials from a Northwest Territories mine that were otherwise destined for a Chinese company. There is a real friction there, though I know you’re talking about partnerships. I have been to conferences where CSIS, the Canadian security arm, has talked about what it considers the danger posed by China in espionage, in trying to trick researchers in Arctic institutions to give up information. It feels as though 99 percent of the time, when China is mentioned in the Northwest Territories, it is in the context of China is doing something that is not in the Northwest Territories’ interest and not in Canada’s interest. That extends to the Arctic as well. You always hear people in Canada talk about concern that China is developing an interest in the Arctic that would be detrimental to Canada. What do you want Northwest Territories residents to hear about that from you?

As I mentioned, China, Canada, we enjoy long-term friendship and our focus is to build friendship, to build collaborations that will benefit both sides. We are a peaceful country and friendly people. What we want is a win-win collaboration. That collaboration will bring growth, jobs and development to Canada, to the Northwest Territories, but also to China.

I don’t know that that’s how people who live here see it right now. What do you imagine China has to do to change that perception?

Maybe it’s time for Canadian people to visit China more, to see with your own eyes the latest developments in China and to talk with our people, and also to talk about future collaborations between the two sides.

What do you think the next steps are, both in terms of Canada-China relations but also Northwest Territories-China relations? If I had people from the mining sector in this room, they would be saying, for example, if only China would work more collaboratively on critical minerals, where right now they feel as though China exercises its dominant position in critical minerals in a way that is anti-competitive and doesn’t allow Canadian firms to develop. How do you see relations developing toward that win-win situation?

I think we can start to visit each other, to meet, to have more contacts, meetings and collaborations. I think time will help to understand each other’s intention and to deliver results.