China criticizes Canada’s ‘double standards’ on human rights after sanctions – National

China accuses Canada hypocrisy for criticizing the human rights situation in Beijing, pointing to the problems it faces autochthonous People.

The retaliation comes after Ottawa sanctioned eight Chinese officials it accuses of “gross human rights violations” against ethnic and religious minorities, and expressed concern about democracy in Hong Kong.

Ottawa issued a statement last month citing reports of arbitrary and violent detention Uighur people, as well as the repression of Tibetans and Falun Gong practitioners.

Global Affairs Canada also says it “regrets” that authorities are issuing international awards to Hong Kong pro-democracy activists and former lawmakers from the area, including Canadians.

Beijing says the claims are baseless and has sanctioned groups and activists in Canada that advocate for minorities in China, barring citizens from certain interactions with those activists.

Since then, Chinese state media has repeatedly called out Canada for its treatment of indigenous peoples, claiming Ottawa is hypocritical.

“Canada is not in a position to lecture others on human rights,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a Dec. 11 press conference, according to an official translation.

“Even today, Indigenous people in Canada still face systemic racial discrimination and unfair treatment. Instead of dealing with it, Canada has chosen to vilify and denigrate other countries.”

Mao added that “China has made tremendous progress in human rights” which “no one without prejudice can deny.”

A day later, she added that “the whole thing is an ugly, hypocritical political ploy by some Canadian political figures under the guise of human rights, to serve an unspeakable agenda and please the US.”

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa reinforced those messages on social media, including a political cartoon by state media CGTN showing a beaver with a shabby house telling a panda with an immaculate house that it has cracks.

“Canada Turns a Blind Eye to the Systemic Racism and Unfair Treatment Indigenous Peoples Face, Yet Makes Up Accusations and Smears China’s Human Rights Progress,” reads the cartoon’s headline. “His constant political manipulation of human rights issues is nothing more than a hypocritical farce of double standards.”

In an ongoing assessment of human rights issues in Canada, the United Nations noted progress on Indigenous rights and housing, while calling for more to be done.

The November 2023 assessment asked Canadian governments to stop human rights abuses by Canadian mining corporations abroad and the overrepresentation of minorities in prisons and child welfare. Canada was also asked to better respect the rights of Indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent.

A January 2024 assessment of China by the same body said the country had improved its policies for women and children, but called on the government to “ensure that all detainees are officially registered, given access to their families and kept in officially recognized places of detention.”

It called on China to “respect the right to freedom of religion or belief, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and culture, including for Tibetans, Uighurs and other minorities” and said the anti-terrorism laws were “not in line with international human rights law and standards ”, including Hong Kong.

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