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Canada recently began to accept Hong Kong pro-democracy activists as refugees, after escalating security crackdowns by the Chinese government on the former British colony.
And Beijing is not happy about it.
Cong Peiwu, China’s ambassador to Canada, said at a morning news conference today that the advocates were “violent criminals” and accepting the asylum claims was tantamount to interfering in China’s internal affairs.
Canada-China relations have been frosty since December of 2018, when Chinese businesswoman Meng Wanzhou was arrested at the Vancouver airport on a U.S. extradition request. In retaliation, China arbitrarily arrested two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and kept them for nearly two years in cells with lights always on. Ms. Meng has passed the time in her Vancouver mansion.
Mr. Cong raised the prospect that accepting the refugees could lead to other consequences for Canada.
“If the Canadian side really cares about the stability and the prosperity in Hong Kong, and really cares the good health and safety of those 300,000 Canadian passport holders in Hong Kong and the large number of Canadian companies operating in Hong Kong . . . you should support those efforts to fight violent crimes,” he said.
