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A30 world news
Diamars 23 maart 2021

2nd Canadian goes on trial in China on spying charges

Meng is sought by the U.S. release and has also restricted
At a daily afternoon news on fraud charges related to various Canadian exports, in-
briefing, Chinese Foreign the telecom giant’s dealings cluding canola oil seed, and
Ministry spokesperson Hua with Iran, which is under handed death sentences to
Chunying said, “The Cana- American financial sanctions. another four Canadians con-
dian side made irresponsible victed of drug smuggling.
remarks on China’s law- The two Canadians have
based handling of the cases of been held ever since, while The U.S. and Canada have
Canadian citizens with some Meng has been released on pledged to work together
other countries’ diplomats in bail. They were charged in with China to seek the re-
China, which is a gross in- June 2020 under China’s lease of Kovrig and Spavor,
terference in China’s judicial broadly defined national se- but meetings between top
sovereignty." curity laws. U.S. and Chinese diplomats
last week — the first since
China's handling of the cases Canadian Prime Minister President Joe Biden took of-
is “beyond reproach," Hua Justin Trudeau blasted Bei- fice — seemed to offer little
(AP) — A second Cana- the trial had begun, but was said, while calling Canada jing for holding the trial “in hope.
dian citizen held for more barred from entry in what he hypocritical because it also secret” without access for
than two years on spying said was a violation of Chi- reserves the right to try cases consular officials. U.S. Secretary of State Anto-
charges in apparent re- na's international and bilat- involving state secrets behind ny Blinken said Chinese hu-
taliation for Canada’s ar- eral treaty obligations. Nickel closed doors. “Their arbitrary detention is man rights abuses “threaten
rest of a senior executive remained outside the court- completely unacceptable, as the rules-based order that
of Chinese telecoms giant house until after dark, despite The Chinese government is the lack of transparency maintains global stability,”
Huawei went on trial in the lack of information. has provided almost no in- around these court proceed- while senior Chinese foreign
Beijing on Monday. formation about the accusa- ings,” Trudeau said in Ot- policy adviser Yang Jiechi said
“Michael Kovrig has been tions against the two, but a tawa. China “will not accept un-
The trial of analyst and for- detained for more than two newspaper run by the ruling warranted accusations from
mer diplomat Michael Kovr- years now. He's been arbi- Communist Party alleges “China needs to understand the U.S. side,” and that rela-
ig in Beijing follows an initial trarily detained and now we they collaborated in steal- that it is not just about two tions had fallen “into a period
hearing in the case of entre- see that the court process it- ing state secrets and sending Canadians. It’s about respect of unprecedented difficulty."
preneur Michael Spavor in self is not transparent," Nick- them abroad. No verdict has for the rule of law and rela-
the northeastern city of Dan- el told reporters earlier in the been announced in Spavor's tionships with a broad range President and head of the
dong on Friday. day. “We're very troubled by case and it wasn't clear if ad- of Western countries that are Chinese Communist Party
this but we thank those who ditional hearings would be at play with the arbitrary de- Xi Jinping is driving the as-
Canadian diplomats have have come out from the em- held. tention and the coercive di- sertive approach to foreign
been refused access to the bassies here in Beijing and plomacy that they’ve engaged relations, alongside bold do-
trials and been told hearings the international support However, such cases are al- in.” mestic policies to eliminate
would be held behind closed that we've had for Michael, most always predetermined poverty and restore rapid
doors because of alleged na- for Canada and the call that in China, and Beijing is seen Meng’s case has deeply an- economic growth following
tional security concerns. many of us are making for as using Kovrig and Spavor as gered China’s government, the coronavirus pandemic,
Diplomats and journalists their immediate release." leverage to obtain the release which has promoted Huawei said Steve Tsang, director of
have shown up nonetheless of Huawei executive Meng as a global leader in mobile the SOAS China Institute at
to seek information and show Nickel said 26 countries had Wanzhou, who was arrested communications technology, the University of London.
support. sent representatives to show at the request of the U.S. and sees her detention as a
their support, including the at the airport in Vancouver, deliberate attempt to malign “Xi is extremely ambitious,
Outside Beijing's No. 2 In- U.S., the U.K, Australia and British Columbia, in Decem- Chinese companies and im- and he compares himself ...
termediate Court, Jim Nick- many European nations. It ber 2019. The two Canadians pede the nation's growing to Mao Zedong and the first
el, the Canadian Embassy’s wasn't clear how long the trial were detained in China just economic and political clout. Emperor of China," Tsang
deputy chief of mission, told would last or when a verdict days later. Beijing has demanded her wrote in an email to The As-
journalists he had been told would be announced. immediate and unconditional sociated Press.

EU slaps sanctions on 4 Chinese officials over Uyghur abuses

(AP) — The European side to think twice. If some ture and repression against dicial, summary or arbitrary
Union on Monday im- China at first denied the exis- insist on confrontation, we LGBTI persons and political executions and killings in
posed sanctions on four tence of camps for detaining will not back down, as we opponents in Chechnya in South Sudan and Eritrea," a
Chinese officials accused Uyghurs in Xinjiang but has have no options other than Russia, and torture, extraju- statement said.
of responsibility for abus- since described them as cen- fulfilling our responsibilities
es against Uyghur Mus- ters to provide job training to the people in our country,”
lims in a raft of measures and reeducate those exposed he said.
targeting alleged human to radical jihadi thinking. Of-
rights offenders around ficials deny all charges of hu- The new EU sanction system
the world, despite warn- man rights abuses there. is similar to the Magnitsky
ings that Beijing could re- Act — Obama-era legislation
taliate. Xinjiang had been a hotbed that authorizes the U.S. gov-
of anti-government violence, ernment to sanction those it
The four are senior officials but Beijing claims its massive sees as human rights offend-
in the northwest region of security crackdown brought ers, freeze their assets and
Xinjiang. peace in recent years. ban them from entering the
United States.
The sanctions involve a Last week, China’s ambassa-
freeze on their assets in the dor to the EU, Zhang Ming, EU foreign ministers, as part
EU and a ban on them travel- suggested that Beijing would of Monday's move, also im-
ing in the bloc. European cit- retaliate. posed sanctions over repres-
izens and companies are not sion in North Korea, “extra-
permitted to provide them “We want dialogue, not con- judicial killings and enforced
with financial assistance. frontation. We ask the EU disappearances in Libya, tor-