China and Russia have dismissed this week’s Vancouver summit on the North Korean crisis as “harmful” and “destructive.”
But the Canadian government appears unfazed by the remarks.
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Speaking on background to reporters, a senior government official said that China and Russia were entitled to their opinions as sovereign states, but insisted there was never any effort to exclude the two countries from the summit.
On Monday, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said both Russia and China had not been invited to the meetings.
Canadian officials say both countries were invited – but in a debrief following the summit, they said the nations were not invited to actually participate.
READ MORE: China blasts Canada, U.S. for North Korea summit: ‘it will only create divisions’
The difference might sound mundane, but it’s not.
Effectively, inviting China and Russia to a debrief rather than to the summit means they would have no voice at the table. There is no way either country would accept that.
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How the summit will work
The meetings will take place in Vancouver on Tuesday and be divided into three parts: one focusing on sanctions, one on diplomacy and one on non-proliferation.
Foreign ministers from Canada, the U.S., Japan, South Korea, the U.K., Turkey, Denmark, Greece, New Zealand, Norway and the Netherlands will attend.
They will focus on whether sanctions are working to the degree they should be, and if not – what can be done to make them more effective.
READ MORE: Canada, allies looking at possibly intercepting North Korean ships
The Canadian official said the government is willing to discuss the possibility of Canada’s Navy providing help in intercepting North Korean ships in and around the Korean Peninsula but stopped short of providing any specifics.
North Korea has been accused of using the waters to ship oil and skirt sanctions.
Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will host a welcome dinner at the Boulevard Restaurant in downtown Vancouver prior to Tuesday’s gathering.
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