Canada‘s federal House of Commons passed a non-binding motion Monday (Feb. 22) calling the Communist government’s treatment of the Uighur minority in the Xinjiang region genocide. The motion also calls for the Winter Olympics not to be held in Beijing.
The Canadian House of Commons passed the motion by the opposition Conservatives by a vote of 266 to none. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government cabinet abstained from the vote, although Liberal rank-and-file lawmakers generally supported the motion.
Just before the vote, the motion was amended to include a reference to the Winter Olympics: Canada called on the International Olympic Committee not to hold the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing if the Chinese government continues to mistreat Uighurs.
Conservatives opposed to Trudeau have been pressuring him to be tougher on China. China arrested two Canadians on espionage charges after Canada arrested huawei‘s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States in 2018, sparking diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
The Chinese government denies that the facilities in Xinjiang are concentration or re-Education camps, saying they are vocational skills education and training centers as a preventive anti-terrorism measure.
File photo: Uighur women in Kashgar, Xinjiang, leave a center where political studies were conducted. (Sept. 6, 2018)
China is a country that always protects and promotes human rights,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday at the opening of the Blue Room Forum hosted by the Chinese Communist Party‘s Foreign Ministry …… Xinjiang, Tibet and other minority-populated regions are even more exemplary of China’s human rights progress.”
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Canada issued a statement after the motion was passed by the Canadian federal House of Commons, saying, “This is a gross interference in China’s internal affairs …… We severely condemn this shameful act.”
Citing testimony, documents and media reports of human rights abuses against Uighurs, House Conservative MP Michael Chong said, “We cannot ignore this. We have to tell it like it is: genocide. “
Trudeau, who has been reluctant to use the word genocide, signaled that the best way to proceed on the issue of human rights in China is to seek consensus from Western allies.
Moving forward multilaterally is the best way to show the unity of Western democracies …… (Western democracies) are extremely concerned and disturbed by what’s happening in Xinjiang,” Trudeau said Friday after speaking with other G-7 leaders. “
Trudeau and U.S. President Bayjo Deng will (Joe Biden) is scheduled to hold bilateral talks by webcam on Tuesday afternoon. Reuters quoted a government source as saying that relations with China is likely to be one of the topics of discussion.
The administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump (Donald Trump) declared on the last day of his term that China’s repression of Uighur Muslims constituted genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, President Biden’s nominee for permanent representative to the United Nations, said at her nomination confirmation hearing last month that the State Department is evaluating the genocide determination against China to ensure the decision is upheld. The new secretary of state, Antony Blinken, echoed the genocide characterization made by the previous administration.
In a speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned China’s “torture, forced labor and sterilization” of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, saying these acts are taking place on an “These acts are taking place on an “industrial scale.
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