What Canada's ambassador to China was doing at the White House
CBC
Canada's ambassador to Beijing has just made a discreet visit to a different world capital in the aftermath of last week's high-profile release of prisoners.
Dominic Barton was at the White House on Friday for a meeting with American officials and Canada's U.S. ambassador Kirsten Hillman. The Washington meeting was not publicly announced.
But when a CBC News crew outside the White House asked Barton about his trip, he cited two objectives for the meeting with officials in the Indo-Pacific section of the U.S. National Security Council.
The first was to thank the Biden administration for its help securing the release of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, which came just hours after the extradition case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was dropped.
The second: To discuss policies for the Indo-Pacific region.
"Understanding what their approach is [in the administration]," said Barton, as he and Hillman entered the White House grounds.
He said he was following up on an earlier conversation with U.S. officials during a visit in April, when the two sides talked about "comparing notes — what they're doing, what we're doing."
