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OTTAWA: Canada will continue to defend human rights in China, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised on Friday (October 16), after a senior Chinese diplomat warned Ottawa that he would not welcome pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong.
China’s Ambassador to Ottawa, Cong Peiwu, warned Canada on Thursday against granting asylum to Hong Kong activists, which he said could have consequences for the “health and safety” of the 300,000 Canadians living in Chinese territory. theoretically autonomous.
The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail said Ottawa had recently granted asylum to a Hong Kong couple, which the Canadian government has neither confirmed nor denied.
“We will stand up loud and clear for human rights around the world, whether it’s talking about the situation Uighurs are facing, whether it’s the worrying situation in Hong Kong, or calling out China for its coercive diplomacy,” Trudeau said. when asked about the Chinese ambassador’s comments.
But he added: “We are not looking for escalation.”
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In a sign of growing tensions between the two countries, Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne had previously criticized the ambassador’s comments as “totally unacceptable and disturbing.”
For his part, the new leader of the conservative opposition, Erin O’Toole, asked the Chinese diplomat “to completely retract his comments and issue a public apology.”
“If the ambassador does not do it quickly, we hope that the government will withdraw his credentials,” he said.
Relations between China and Canada have been cold since December 2018 when Canada, acting on an order from the United States, arrested the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.
Washington accused her of violating US sanctions against Iran and is pushing for her extradition.
Shortly after their arrest, China jailed a former Canadian diplomat, Michael Kovrig, and a Canadian businessman, Michael Spavor, on charges of espionage, an act widely viewed in Western capitals as an act of retaliation by Beijing.
