Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper expresses willingness to export more?crude to China. [File photo]

Beyond trade and investment issues, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will talk about oil exports to China when he meets with Chinese leaders during his trip to China this week from Tuesday to Saturday.

Ahead of his China tour, Harper said that the Canadian government is aiming to strengthen relationships with China and attaching great importance to deepening economic ties between the two countries, including exploring new markets and laying the foundation for long-term growth.

"Exporting Canada's natural resources to China is definitely in line with the interests of Canada," said Harper's spokesman Andrew MacDougall at a briefing on Feb. 3.

The oil issue on his agenda is considered an apparent warning to the U.S. after the Obama Administration scrapped Canada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

The Obama Administration last month vetoed a plan to build a pipeline from Canada's Alberta to refineries in Texas on environmental grounds. Harper said he was quite disappointed with U.S. rejection. After that, the Canadian government decided to build another pipeline to transport oil to Asian-Pacific regions including China.

Canada's oil reserves ranked No. 3 in the world with more than 170 billion barrels in reserves, after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. It is estimated that its daily output is expected to rise to 3.7 million barrels from the current 1.5 million barrels. Building pipelines that carry its oil to other parts of the world is one of the top priorities for the Canadian oil industry.

Since 97 percent of Canada's oil exports currently go to the U.S., Ottawa has thought it is imperative to diversify its oil exports.

"The China-Canada trade surged 60 percent over the last two years to approach US$50 billion to volume," said Zhang Junsai, Chinese ambassador to Canada. He also noted that the two countries should streamline the trade structure to enhance quality.

Harper said at last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Organization that Canada was willing to sell more oil to China and said the same thing to Obama.

The prime minister will be accompanied by five ministers, six senators and a large business delegate during his visit to China.

China's business press carried the story above on Monday.

Contact the writer of this story at: hes@china.org.cn.