Canada is urging other Western nations to accept the remaining 40 Chinese dissidents seeking to escape Hong Kong before the handover. The Canadian Commission in Hong Kong last night said it had accepted 'some' applicants for asylum. 'Canada is not the only country that has been approached for these applications,' said a spokesman. 'We have accepted a number and we have others that have not been accepted. We encourage other countries that have been approached to respond.' There are signs that countries which have taken hundreds of dissidents escaping China since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre are beginning to tire of the burden. A Western diplomat recently suggested that Britain, which has co-operated in the campaign to find homes for the 40 dissidents, take them considering their small number. The comments from the commission are likely to further anger diplomats in Hong Kong, who have been working on the secret relocation operations. They were perplexed when Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy raised the issue publicly during his visit to the territory last month, and expressed fears China could react negatively. The spokesman said the dissidents' applications had been processed over the past few months. Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen last night said Beijing would not retaliate against those who had fled political movements on the mainland. If they loved both China and Hong Kong and were willing to work for Hong Kong's stability and prosperity, they had nothing to worry about, he said. Mr Qian cited the Cultural Revolution as an example of political movements, but did not mention the 1989 pro-democracy uprising.
