Canada’s Justin Trudeau extremely concerned about Hong Kong, urges China to be careful
- Prime minister says Ottawa is focused on protecting Canada’s interests in Hong Kong, which is home to around 300,000 Canadian citizens
- US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell warns Beijing that any violent crackdown on protests in the city would be ‘completely unacceptable’
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that he was very worried about events in Hong Kong, which has a large Canadian population, and urged Chinese authorities to handle the protests there with tact.
“We are extremely concerned about the situation in Hong Kong. We see the need for de-escalation of tensions, we need to see the local authorities listening to the very serious concerns brought forward by Chinese citizens,” said Trudeau, whose country is locked in a trade and diplomatic dispute with Beijing.
His remarks came as US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell warned China that any violent crackdown on protests in the city would be “completely unacceptable”, while Trump administration officials urged all sides to refrain from violence.
“We are calling for peace, for order, for dialogue … we certainly call on China to be very careful and very respectful in how it deals with people who have legitimate concerns in Hong Kong,” Trudeau told a televised news conference in Toronto.
His comments were the most expansive yet by a senior Canadian official about anti-government protests that have swept Hong Kong over the past two months. China said on Monday the demonstrations had begun to show “signs of terrorism”.