Chinese ambassadors’ remarks raise concerns for HK-based Canadians
At a news conference on Thursday (15 October), China’s ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, urged Ottawa not to grant political asylum to ‘violent criminals’ from Hong Kong, in reference to Canada’s granting of asylum to pro-democracy protesters from the territory. Cong said that if Canada ‘really cares about the good health and safety of those 300,000 Canadian passport holders in Hong Kong’, it should support efforts to counter perceived violent crime in Hong Kong. In response, Canadian foreign minister Fran?ois-Philippe Champagne said that Cong’s comments were ‘totally unacceptable and disturbing’ and instructed the foreign ministry to summon Cong for a meeting.
Why it matters: Cong’s remarks have been perceived in Canada as a thinly-veiled threat against Canadians in Hong Kong. The Canadian government is acutely aware of the impact of Sino-Canadian tensions on its citizens in China, with two Canadian men – Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor – having been held in China on espionage charges since December 2018. China, meanwhile, accuses Canada of ‘arbitrarily’ detaining Chinese telecoms giant Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, on US extradition charges, also in December 2018.
The hostile relations between Ottawa and Beijing are similar to worsening Sino-Australian ties, which in September led to the evacuation of two Australian reporters from China, and also mirror the poor state of Sino-US relations. Hopes for an improvement in relations between Canada and China rest largely on a resolution to Meng’s case in Beijing’s favour, which could be triggered by a potential change in US administration if Joe Biden were to win next month’s presidential election. In the immediate term, however, hostile bilateral relations continue to pose a serious and credible detention risk to Canadians in China and its special administrative regions.
Organisations with Canadian staff in China and Hong Kong should monitor political developments closely and carefully consider how the present state of bilateral ties could impact their wellbeing. Companies are advised to have contingency plans for redeployment of staff in place should hostilities intensify further.