International Trade Minister David Emerson says China's human rights record is on an upward trend, and Canada wants to help the nation continue to improve.
Emerson's comments come ahead of his trip with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Sydney, Australia for Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation meetings on Sept. 8th and 9th.
Along with trade and global warming initiatives, the world's relationship with China - also an APEC member -- is likely to be a major topic of discussion at the meetings.
In an interview aired Sunday on CTV's Question Period, Emerson acknowledged Canada has concerns about China's handling of human rights, and said officials raise the issue at almost every high level meeting with China.
But he said progress is being made as China's growing economy leads to freer trade relations with the rest of the world.
"Over time, China is becoming much more open, much more liberal in the small 'l' sense, and of course, they will gradually improve their approach to rule of law and democracy and those kinds of issues, and we will be encouraging them along the way," Emerson said.
The 21 members of APEC are also expected to grapple over the future direction of climate change initiatives. Australia's Prime Minister John Howard is rejecting the idea of binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, instead favouring voluntary targets.
Howard has made the subject a special topic at the forum, and has said a successor to the Kyoto Protocol must work for all nations.
Among industrialized nations, only the U.S. and Australia have failed to ratify Kyoto, claiming binding targets could cripple their economies.
