(TibetanReview.net, Dec11’24) –On the international Human Rights Day of Dec 10, Canada has announced sanctions on eight former and current senior Chinese officials, citing gross and systematic human rights violations in the Xinjiang region, Tibet and against Falun Gong followers.
“Canada is deeply concerned over reports that China has arbitrarily detained more than 1 million people in Xinjiang since 2017, many of whom were held in camps and faced psychological, physical and sexual violence,” Reuters Dec 11 quoted Canada’s the foreign ministry as saying in a statement.
Those covered by the sanctions include Chen Quanguo, former Communist Party chief in the Xinjiang region and, before that, in Tibet. It also includes Wu Yingjie, Communist Party head in Tibet between 2016 and 2021 and who now faces a corruption investigation after being expelled from the party and removed from public offices.
The action imposes an asset freeze on the targeted officials by prohibiting Canadians from engaging in property-related activity or providing financial services, the report noted.
“We call on the Chinese government to put an end to this systematic campaign of repression and uphold its international human rights obligations,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has said in the statement.
The report noted that the sanctions came months after Joly visited Beijing and met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Beijing has said Wu spoke to her about normalising bilateral relations.
Canada’s ambassador to Beijing visited Xinjiang earlier this year and expressed concerns about human rights violations directly to local leaders, the report said.
China has ” strongly condemned” Canada’s action on Dec 11. Its foreign ministry claimed that China values human rights and criticized Canada’s actions as an overreach, saying Ottawa lacks the authority to dictate human rights standards or impose punitive measures, reported the devdiscourse.com Dec 11.
The spokesperson wanted Canada to “introspect and desist from actions that compromise Chinese interests under the guise of human rights advocacy, highlighting the diplomatic friction between the nations.”
The sanctions were enacted under the Special Economic Measures Act in response to the gross and systematic human rights violations occurring in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).