Shaking Hands With Bad State Actors Not Smart ‘Chess’

Antagonist regimes use photo-ops with leaders of countries like Canada for propaganda, says former minister and MP

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 14, 2020. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

News Analysis

Diplomatic relations is a chess game, one that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t play very well when he had a friendly handshake with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, says former cabinet minister and longtime MP David Kilgour.