Canada voices ‘real concern’ about human rights in China on 30th anniversary of Tiananmen crackdown

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marked the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on Tuesday by expressing “real concerns” about China’s human rights record, prompting a swift reaction from Beijing.

Diplomatic relations between the countries have deteriorated since December, when police in Vancouver detained Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer Sabrina Meng Wanzhou on a US arrest warrant.

Trudeau said Canada continued to call on China to “respect human rights, to respect the right to protest, to respect freedom of expression” and to end its mass detention of Uygurs and other Muslims.

“We have real concerns about China’s behaviour in regards to human rights and will continue to … call for better respect of human rights on this anniversary and every day going forward,” he said on a visit to Vancouver.

The Chinese government imposed an information lockdown on Tuesday.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada wanted Chinese authorities “to break the silence on these events by openly accounting for the Chinese citizens who were killed, detained or went missing”.

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“Canadians join others around the world in commemorating the 30th anniversary of the violent crackdown against unarmed and peaceful citizens in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989,” she said.

Freeland said that under the Chinese constitution, citizens should enjoy freedom of speech, assembly, association and belief. She said that 30 years later, the struggle for basic freedoms continued for human rights defenders in China, including lawyers and journalists.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa said the remarks by Trudeau and his government were “gross accusations” and flagrant interference in China’s internal affairs.

“The Chinese side firmly opposes it and has made stern representations to the Canadian side. Any attempt to … destabilise our country is doomed to fail,” the mission said.

Relations between Ottawa and Beijing were at their lowest ebb since the Tiananmen Square crackdown after Canada arrested Meng in December.

Chinese authorities detained Canadian former diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor on December 10, soon after the arrest of Meng, and formally charged them last month with espionage. China has also sentenced two other Canadians to death and suspended imports of Canadian canola.

“We deplore the arbitrary detention of Canadians and other political prisoners in China and we have made that point directly to the Chinese leadership,” Trudeau said.