China’s top diplomat in Vancouver blasts ‘brutal’ Canada for meddling in response to Hong Kong national security law

Consul General Tong Xiaoling said Ottawa’s ‘conspiracy’ against the law was useless, and the legislation would protect Canadian investors in an ‘efficient’ way

Activist group Alliance Canada HK said Tong’s comments were ‘part of the larger campaign to influence and coerce Chinese communities in Canada’

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Carrie Lam and Tong Xiaoling in March 2017. Photo: Edward Wong

Published: 5:40am, 30 Jul 2020Updated: 1:55am, 26 Dec 2021

China’s consul general in Vancouver has accused Canada of “brutal interference” in Chinese internal affairs by imposing sanctions in response to the new national security law in Hong Kong.

Tong Xiaoling, who was posted in Hong Kong before being transferred to Vancouver in 2017, said western countries including Canada and the US had “slandered” the law, and were trying to ruin Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability.

“[It] has to be pointed out that Canada has taken part in this. So these countries’ wrongful comments and actions violate international laws and the standards for international relations; it is also a form of brutal interference with Hong Kong and Chinese internal affairs,” Tong said in an interview with Vancouver’s Chinese-language AM1320 radio.

She added: “[Any] intent and conspiracy to prevent China from implementing the national security law is useless. We hope Canada will not go further down on this wrongful path, and will stop damaging the Canada-China interests.”

Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, right, waves goodbye to visitors from China’s consulate at her home in Vancouver on December 12, 2018. They include Consul General Tong Xiaoling (second from right). Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Tong’s remarks were broadcast in news bulletins on Monday and in a longer interview on Tuesday.