On Feb. 15, the spokesman at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, Canada responded to a question about Canada’s Feb. 15 launching of the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations. (See separate slug.) The spokesman charged that during the Feb. 15 launching of said Declaration, Canada “arranged” to have the executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, accuse China of “arbitrary detention” of two Canadian citizens who’ve been held in Beijing for two years, charged by Beijing with crimes affecting China’s national security
Such statements, the spokesman said, are “totally fact-distorting and ill-intentioned,” and the Chinese side “expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition over this, and has lodged stern representations with the Canadian side.” He described the case of Huawei CEO Meng Wanzhou, detained in Canada for two years, identifying it as arbitrary detention. Canada, he said, is acting as an “accomplice of the U.S.,” and helps the U.S. to use Meng as a bargaining chip. “This kind of act is no different from a thief shouting to catch a thief. How hypocritical and despicable,” he said.
