As the new Liberal government seeks to reset relations with Beijing, a debate is starting over whether Canada should participate in the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, on Sunday, pledging a “fresh approach” to China.

“I certainly hope that this is going to be an era of greater co-operation and mutual benefit for both Canada and China in the coming years,” Trudeau said. He also has been invited for a state visit to Beijing, but has yet to officially accept.

A report released this week by the Institute for Research on Public Policy, in partnership with the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, offers an ambitious roadmap for improving Canada-China ties and suggests that Canada should join the AIIB.

Four G7 countries — the U.K., France, Germany and Italy — signed on to the AIIB this year, while Canada, Japan and the U.S. remain on the sidelines.

The AIIB’s creation, notes the report, “is in large part a reaction to the long-standing failure by the U.S. Congress to support the decision by the shareholders of the International Monetary Fund to adjust voting power to better reflect the rising roles of China and the large emerging-market economies in the world economy.”

“Canada refused to join the AIIB as a founding member, but it should join now,” the report continues. “Canada can be a constructive participant supporting state-of-the-art governance and standards, a position that fits with our wider strategic interest in encouraging Chinese multilateralism.”

David Mulroney, former Canadian ambassador to China, is less enthusiastic.

“I think it’s not a bad thing that we’re on the outside looking in. I think we can wait it out a round or two, and I’d rather not make a decision than make a bad one,” he told iPolitics.

After China’s bid for a greater voice at the IMF fell through, he said, “the appropriate approach would have been for like-minded countries, and maybe the G7 plus Australia and others, to approach China to say, ‘Look, we know your interest, but we think this is going to take some time, and we want to talk about issues around governance, so let’s not create this tomorrow, let’s work together and see if this is what we really need.’

“Unfortunately, that’s not on offer, because countries — starting with Britain — broke out of the consensus and were in a rush to be first past the post with the Chinese. It’s tremendously confused.”

And China’s on-again, off-again relationship with international standards of governance and transparency casts doubt on the AIIB, he suggested.

“Just as (Beijing) was announcing the creation of the (AIIB), it was shutting down the China presence of Reuters. That’s hardly sending a strong message of support for how multilateral institutions should be managed and the kind of information network that we need to sustain them.”

It also has been noted elsewhere that China’s sputtering economy puts the AIIB’s long-term funding in doubt.

The AIIB, said Mulroney, “has been so thoroughly confused that it’s probably a good thing that we’re out of it for a while.”

The IRPP’s report, however, casts AIIB participation as a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Canada to improve its ties with China and reach new markets in Asia.

“If the (AIIB) even partially succeeds, it will have a significant impact of linking poor Asian countries into the global economy,” reads the IRPP’s report. “The potential for new business is significant. But to realize these opportunities, Canadian firms will have to expand their links with Asian supply chains and Canada will need to join the AIIB.”