Coronavirus ‘scapegoats’: Chinese-Canadians slam anti-Asian hate crimes, and China’s government too
- A group of 13 prominent Chinese Canadians say anger at the Communist Party is being ‘misdirected’ at innocent people of Chinese descent
- They have called for an investigation into China’s handling of Covid-19, but fear it could be ‘sidetracked by a racial-discrimination issue’
A group of prominent Chinese Canadians has issued a statement denouncing anti-Asian hate crimes amid the Covid-19 pandemic, saying anger at the Chinese government was being “misdirected” at innocent people of Chinese descent.
They also called for Canada’s government to support an independent investigation into the origins of Covid-19 “and the responsibility of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] government in suppressing the timely and full disclosure of information about the new coronavirus and its initial outbreak”.
Well-known Vancouver figures among the 13 signatories include Ken Tung, former chairman of the immigration advocacy group SUCCESS; Bill Chu, founder of Canadians for Reconciliation Society; and Eleanor Yuen, former head of the Asian Library at the University of British Columbia.
The statement was issued on Wednesday, a day after police released a video of an attack on a young Asian woman who was punched in the face in downtown Vancouver last month.
The motive for the unprovoked attack is unknown but it comes during a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes in Vancouver, 20 of which have been reported to police so far this year, compared to 12 in all of 2019.