Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu accused unnamed Candian media platforms of painting China in an unfair light.
“Some Canadian media out of the motive to seek attention distort the truth about China which has misled the Canadian public,” said Cong during a webinar to the Canada-China Friendship Society.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Cong made no reference to two imprisoned Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor during his remarks.
“The United States has acted like a barbaric bully who behaves against the basic norms of international relations. Unfortunately Canada was taken advantage of by the United States and acted as an accomplice in the process, making Meng Wanzhou’s detention the crux of current China-Canada relations,” said Cong.
This is not the first time that Cong has levelled accusations against the press regarding its coverage of China.
In March, the ambassador accused western media outlets of spreading “fake news” by reporting on China’s mass incarceration of ethnic and religious minorities in re-education camps.
Cong defended China’s forced labour and mass imprisonment practices by saying that the facilities were “vocational training centres.”
“With the help of the local governments, they have found good jobs, decent jobs. So that is good for the stability in the region,” said Cong about the Xinjiang region, where millions of Uyghurs are suspected to be held.
Critics of the Trudeau government have blamed the prime minister for disrupting Canada’s inquiry into China’s human rights abuses after proroguing parliament in August.
“It’s really frustrating that now that committee cannot meet because of the prorogation. That’s just one area where, in terms of shutting down the work of parliamentary committees, the prorogation also killed the Canada-China committee which cuts short the important work being done,” Conservative MP and member of the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations Garnett Genuis told True North.
