Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a news conference in Ottawa on January 5, 2022. (REUTERS/Blair Gable)
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada stands with demonstrators in China protesting against Beijing’s “zero-COVID” policy and their right to self-expression.
“Canadians are watching very closely,” Trudeau said in Ottawa on Nov. 29. “Obviously everyone in China should be allowed to express themselves, should be allowed to share their perspectives, and, indeed, protest.”
“We’re going to continue to ensure that China knows we’ll stand up for human rights, we’ll stand with people who are expressing themselves.”
Mass protests in China began last week after an apartment fire in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang region, killed 10 people who were reportedly trapped in the building due to severe lockdown measures amid the regime’s “zero-COVID” strategy. A number of protesters have called for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and leader Xi Jinping to resign. Video footage has shown some protesters being arrested and taken into police vehicles.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre yesterday asked in the House of Commons if the federal government would voice support for the demonstrators and advocate for their right to peaceful protest.
“Will they [the government] indicate to Beijing that the peaceful protests should be allowed to go ahead and that any crackdown should be resisted?” Poilievre asked during question period on Nov. 28.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and her department are yet to issue a statement on the protests. The Epoch Times reached out to the department asking for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
‘Freedom of Expression’
Joly’s parliamentary secretary, Maninder Sidhu, yesterday responded to Poilievre’s question in the House by saying Global Affairs Canada believes in “freedom of expression at home and abroad, including in China.”
“Protesters should be able to peacefully protest and share their views without fearing for their safety,” Sidhu said.
Several days ago, Joly unveiled the federal government’s long-awaited Indo-Pacific Strategy. In the announcement on Nov. 27, she said the government will be investing around $2.2. billion in the region over the next five years, part of which will be used to challenge China’s “increasingly disruptive” ambitions in the area.
“China is an increasingly disruptive global power,” she said on Nov. 27.
Conservative MPs have voiced support for the ongoing protests in China, with foreign affairs critic Michael Chong writing in a Twitter post yesterday that protestors were “an inspiration to all people fighting for freedom & democracy.”
“They remind us that these universal values are for all,” Chong wrote.
“We remember the Tiananmen Square massacre of 5 June 1989. The world is watching.”
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis echoed Chong’s remarks, writing in a Twitter post that “Seeing the courage of the people of China right now is incredibly inspiring.”
“In spite of an Orwellian system of constant surveillance and evaluation, people are out on the streets showing their faces and denouncing oppression. I hope they win.”
Andrew Chen and Dorothy Li contributed to this report.