BEIJING (CU)_China announced sanctions against a Canadian MP and a Parliamentary subcommittee, following criticism of Beijing’s human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
The Foreign Ministry of China announced on Saturday (27 March) that sanctions have been imposed on Conservative MP Michael Chong and the subcommittee on international human rights, which is studying the situation of religious and ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region.
The communist superpower said that the measures were in response to sanctions levied by the North American nation on Chinese officials over human rights abuses in the western Chinese region.
“The Chinese government is firmly determined to safeguard its national sovereignty, security and development interests, and urges the relevant parties to clearly understand the situation and redress their mistakes,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“They must stop political manipulation on Xinjiang-related issues, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs in any form and refrain from going further down the wrong path. Otherwise, they will get their fingers burnt.”
Accordingly, Chong is barred from entering China, while Chinese citizens are prohibited from doing business with him.
Responding to the measures, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the sanctions are “an attack on transparency and freedom of expression”, while Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau called the move “unacceptable”.
Sharing similar views, Chong said that he has a duty to call out China for its “genocide” of Uyghur Muslims.
“We who live freely in democracies under the rule of law must speak for the voiceless,” he said on Twitter. “If that means China sanctions me, I’ll wear it as a badge of honour.”
On Saturday, Beijing also announced sanctions against the chair and vice chair of the US government’s advisory Commission on International Religious Freedom. These two individuals are barred from entering East Asian nation, and from communicating with Chinese citizens.
