Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on an eight-day official visit to China, during which he will be seeking to reset a "critical" relationship that was often bumpy during his predecessor's tenure.

He has called it an opportunity to build a closer long-term relationship with China after the "inconstant relations" under the previous government of Stephen Harper, which he said went from "hot to cold depending on the issue, depending on the day".

With this in mind, Trudeau said his government was "looking very favorably" at the possibility of joining the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank when he met with Chinese business leaders on Tuesday, citing his administration's strong belief in the "importance of investing in infrastructure".