Ottawa's protectionist moves will boomerang

China has filed a complaint to the World Trade Organization over Canada's unilateralism and trade protectionism practices, said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday.

The ministry said it has also initiated an anti-discrimination probe into Canada's restrictive measures targeting certain imports from China.

Despite China's strong opposition, the Canadian government announced on Tuesday the final list of Chinese-made steel and aluminum subject to a 25 percent tariff, along with a 100 percent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, effective immediately.

Ottawa has not even bothered to provide any evidence to justify its protectionist moves, which originate from the Justin Trudeau government's blind following of the United States' China-containment strategy to form a united front against China.

As the MOC spokesperson said, Canada's measures violate the principles of market economy and fair competition, severely damaging normal economic and trade cooperation between Chinese and Canadian enterprises, significantly impacting bilateral economic and trade relations, and disrupting and distorting global industrial and supply chains.

Given its broad common interest with China, a major trading partner, Canada should view bilateral economic and trade cooperation rationally and objectively, respect the facts, adhere to WTO rules, and not stray further down the wrong path.

Given the great lengths both sides had gone to in a bid to repair Sino-Canadian ties over the past few years, which was also caused by Ottawa doing Washington's bidding, it is a pity that the Trudeau government seems to have forgotten its lesson, leaving the Chinese side no choice but taking all necessary steps to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.

China commenced from Sept 26 an anti-discrimination probe into Canada's tariff hikes on EVs, as well as steel and aluminum products imported from China, after initial results unveiled such a discriminatory approach. That is the first such investigation initiated by China and the first of its kind in the world.

In her meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during her visit to Beijing in July, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly said that Canada is willing to actively and pragmatically improve and develop relations with China, and maintain contact and dialogue.

And Canada is ready to strengthen cooperation in fields such as the economy and trade, tourism, drug control, climate change, environmental protection and people-to-people exchange to achieve mutually beneficial development, she said.

Ottawa should stop saying one thing and doing another in dealing with China-related issues, and it should handle Sino-Canadian relations with its due sense of responsibility upholding its strategic autonomy.

A stable and healthy economic and trade relationship based on the structural complementarity of the two economies is in line with not only the common expectations of the two peoples but also the common interests of the two countries.