Beijing has called out Canada over past wrongs committed against Indigenous people after Ottawa sanctioned eight Chinese senior and former officials over human rights abuses.
“Canada is in no position to lecture others on human rights,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning during a press conference last month, according to an official translation.
Ning’s response comes after Ottawa issued sanctions “under the Special Economic Measures (People’s Republic of China) Regulations against 8 former or current senior officials involved in grave human rights violations in the country.”
The release by Global Affairs Canada cited China’s treatment of religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, Tibet and its targeting of Falun Gong practitioners, as well as its efforts to disrupt Hong Kong’s democracy.
“As we mark International Human Rights Day on December 10, Canada continues to condemn human rights violations around the world. Canada is deeply concerned over reports that China has arbitrarily detained more than one million people in Xinjiang since 2017, many of whom were held in camps and faced psychological, physical and sexual violence,” reads the release.
“Tibetans have also endured human rights violations at the hands of the Chinese government. This includes forced labour, arbitrary detention and restrictions on their rights to freedom of religion or belief, expression, movement and association.”
GAC condemned Beijing’s attempts to issue international bounties on Hong Kong activists abroad, including some Canadians and former lawmakers.
The government also highlighted China’s continued efforts to “eliminate Falun Gong practise in the country through arbitrary arrests, forced labour and torture” dating back to 1999.
Chinese authorities responded by saying that the government’s claims were baseless and its state media has repeatedly pointed to Canada’s treatment of Indigenous people as an example of hypocrisy.
“Even today, Canada’s Indigenous people still face systemic racial discrimination and unfair treatment. Instead of dealing with it, Canada chooses to smear and vilify other countries,” said Ning, adding that “China has achieved enormous progress in human rights” that “no one without bias can deny.”
Ning later went on to allege that the new sanctions were a “hypocritical political stunt done by some Canadian political figures under the pretext of human rights, to serve an unspeakable agenda and please the U.S.”
Beijing’s response has been echoed by the Chinese embassy in Ottawa via social media posts, including a cartoon showing a beaver with a shanty home criticizing a panda next to a beautiful one with a caption that reads, “Quick to judge others, blind to their own flaws.”
A recent United Nations assessment of China said that while the country had improved some of its policies towards women and children, it urged Beijing to do more to “ensure that all detainees are formally accounted for, granted access to their families and held in officially recognized places of detention.”
It went on to call for China to “respect the rights to freedom of religion or belief, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and culture, including for Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other minorities.”
The assessment noted that China’s counterterrorism laws were not “in compliance with international human rights law and standards,” including its treatment of Hong Kong.
“Canada is deeply concerned by the human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet and against those who practise Falun Gong,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly in a recent statement.
“We call on the Chinese government to put an end to this systematic campaign of repression and uphold its international human rights obligations.”
