BEIJING - Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed on Thursday Canada's improving ties with China as well as the leadership of President Xi Jinping, declaring that their nations were charting a new course in cooperation at a time of global division and disorder. The four-day visit to China was the first by a Canadian prime minister since 2017, following up on Carney's positive meeting with Xi in South Korea in October. The two are set to meet again on Friday. "We're heartened by the leadership of President Xi Jinping and the speed with which our relationship has progressed," Carney told China's top legislator, Zhao Leji, in a meeting in Beijing. "It sets the stage for these important discussions on a wide range of ‍issues where we can be strategic partners from energy to agriculture，to people-to-people ties, multilateralism, to issues on security." Carney's optimism follows months of intense re-engagement by both countries aimed at recalibrating ties that had soured under the previous prime minister, Justin Trudeau. The efforts have also been fuelled by a push to diversify export markets aft