Canada pledged to seek frank, friendly and forward-looking ties with China as Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon ended his Beijing visit Tuesday.

"The program of meetings I had so far has been very fruitful," Cannon told a press conference.

This was Cannon's first visit to China since taking office last year.

The visit came weeks after Canadian International Trade Minister Stockwell Day traveled to China and announced the opening of six new trade offices to facilitate bilateral trade and investment.

"I want our relationship with China to be frank, friendly and forward-looking. There are many issues upon which we can build a constructive and forward-looking partnership," Cannon said.

Cannon characterized his meeting with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping as "a great opportunity to discuss how our two countries can advance our relationship and enhance people-to-people ties."

"We agreed on the importance of avoiding protectionism and cooperating to provide a remedy to the global economic crisis," Cannon said.

He said talks with his counterpart, Yang Jiechi, and other officials covered a wide range of topics, including the Korean peninsula nuclear issue.

"I will convey to Prime Minister Stephen Harper the results of my discussions today and tell him he is welcome here," he said in response to a question regarding when Harper will visit China.

Cannon reviewed the recent meeting between Harper and Chinese President Hu Jintao, saying it "went off very well and both leaders acknowledged the same kind of issues and the same remedies that are necessary to be able to relaunch the world economy."

As his visit coincided with the first anniversary of the catastrophic 8.0-magnitude earthquake in southwest China, Cannon also expressed his deepest sympathy to the Chinese people on behalf of all Canadians.

Cannon will travel to Shanghai to check on the progress of Canada's national pavilion for the 2010 World Expo before continuing his Asian visit in Tokyo.

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2009)