3 yıl önce

Canada's parliament labels Chinese treatment of Uighurs as 'genocide'

A genocide is currently being carried out against the Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims says the motion that was passed in 266-0 vote. Trudeau and his Cabinet abstained from the vote.

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Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada February 3, 2021. Reuters/Blair Gable

Canada's parliament has passed a non-binding motion saying China's treatment of the Uighurs in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region constitutes "genocide", putting pressure on Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government to follow suit.

Canada's House of Commons voted 266-0 on Monday for the motion brought by the opposition Conservative Party. Trudeau and his Cabinet abstained from the vote, although Liberal backbenchers widely backed it.

The motion was also amended just before the vote to call on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics from Beijing if the treatment continues.

China denies accusations

Rights groups say more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim people in China's northwestern region have been incarcerated in camps in a bid to root out Islamic customs and forcibly integrate minorities.

Beijing denies accusations of abuses in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

China insists it is offering vocational training to reduce the allure of extremism there.

Cong Peiwu, the Chinese ambassador to Ottawa, denied accusations of genocide.

"Western countries are in no position to say what the human rights situation in China looks like," Cong said in an interview before the vote.

"There is no so-called genocide in Xinjiang at all."

Trudeau under pressure

Trudeau's Conservative rivals have been pressuring him to get tougher on China. After Canada arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in 2018 on a US warrant, China detained two Canadians on spying charges, igniting lingering diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

Citing testimony, documents and media reports of human rights abuses against Uighurs, Conservative lawmaker Michael Chong said: "We can no longer ignore this. We must call it for what it is — a genocide."

Trudeau has been reluctant to use the word genocide, suggesting that seeking broad consensus among Western allies on Chinese human rights issues would be the best approach.

"Moving forward multilaterally will be the best way to demonstrate the solidarity of Western democracies ... that are extremely concerned and dismayed by reports of what's going on in Xinjiang," Trudeau said on Friday after speaking to fellow G7 leaders.

Trudeau, Biden talks

Trudeau and US President Joe Biden will hold a virtual bilateral meeting on Tuesday afternoon, and relations with China are likely to be discussed, a government source said.

Former US president Donald Trump - on his last full day in office last month - said China had committed "genocide and crimes against humanity" by repressing Uighurs.

The Biden administration is trying to ensure that the genocide declaration is upheld, according to his pick to be ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.