RIO DE JANEIRO (CU)_A Chinese diplomat in Brazil has accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of turning his country into “a running dog for the US”, thereby damaging friendly relations between Beijing and Ottawa.
“Boy, your greatest achievement is to have ruined the friendly relations between China and Canada, and have turned Canada into a running dog of the US,” Li Yang said on Twitter. “Spendthrift!!!”
Running dog is a Chinese term made popular by Mao Zedong, which refers to stewards of a more powerful, often evil, force.
Experts say that the Tweet was the latest example of Beijing’s new “wolf-warrior” diplomacy, followed by more Chinese diplomats in the recent past, as some of them even compete with each other to be the boldest.
According to Charles Burton, a former Canadian diplomat in Beijing, the fact that Li is based overseas gives him a cover of sorts, since if the post was issued by a diplomat in Canada, it would have been grounds to send him or her home, by declaring the individual persona non grata.
Nevertheless, relations between Beijing and Ottawa had reached an all-time low, following the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, back in 2018 in Vancouver, on a US extradition request. The dispute was further aggravated after Canada joined the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union last week, in imposing coordinated sanctions against officials in China over human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Subsequently, the Communist superpower announced retaliatory measures, imposing sanctions on against a Canadian MP Michael Chong and the subcommittee on international human rights.
When requested for a comment on Li’s tweet, PM Trudeau’s office referred to the remarks made by the Prime Minister on Monday, endorsing Canada’s efforts to defend human rights in the western Chinese region.
