OTTAWA - Canada weighed in Thursday in the ongoing South China Sea dispute, with a thinly-veiled call to China to abide by an international ruling that has angered Beijing.
While the statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion doesn't specifically name China, it appears aimed at the country, which is angry after an international panel rejected much of its maritime claim.
The Hague panel that administers the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea sided last week with the Philippines and rejected much of the legal basis of China's claim.
The maritime dispute has implications for Sino-Canada relations at a time when the Trudeau government is seeking to make economic and political inroads with China.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is bound for China later this summer for the G20 leaders' summit, after having appeared to reboot relations with China last fall during his first meeting with President Xi Jinping.
But Canada's recent decision to side with G7 ally Japan on the maritime tensions, as well as disagreements with China over human rights, are complicating those aspirations.
