SAUDIS: FIX YOUR ‘MISTAKE’
DOUBLING DOWN ON ITS CRITICISM, GULF STATE BEGINS SELLOFF OF CANADIAN ASSETS
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says diplomatic talks with Saudi Arabia will continue but he’s not backing down on Canada’s criticism of the kingdom over the arrest of several social activists last week.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, however, says there is no room for mediation, and that Ottawa knows what it needs to do to “fix its big mistake.”
Adel Al-Jubeir said Wednesday the next wave of retaliatory steps could affect investment flows between the countries. Saudi Arabia’s central bank and pension funds have already begun selling Canadian assets, according to people familiar with the matter. A report on the asset sales in the Financial Times earlier Wednesday triggered a brief sell-off in the loonie.
“There is nothing to mediate. A mistake has been made and a mistake should be corrected,” Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh.
“Canada knows what it needs to do,” he added. “We don’t accept interference in our affairs.”
Trudeau said Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland had a long conversation with her Saudi counterpart on Tuesday and Canada is engaging directly with the Saudi government in a bid to restore diplomatic ties between the two countries. But an apology from Canada or a withdrawal of the human rights concerns Canada raised, is not on the table.
“As the minister has said and as we will repeat, Canada will always speak strongly and clearly in private and in public on questions of human rights,” Trudeau said during an event Wednesday in Montreal.
Trudeau said Canada’s goal is not to have a bad relationship with Saudi Arabia.
“We don’t want to have poor relations with Saudi Arabia,” he said in French. “It’s a country that has a certain importance in the world and is making progress on human rights. But we will continue to underline challenges when they exist there and everywhere in the world.”
The diplomatic dispute began last week after Freeland tweeted concerns about the arrests of social activists, including Samar Badawi, who has advocated for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Her brother, blogger Raif Badawi, has been in prison since 2012 for criticizing the government, but his wife and children live in Quebec and became Canadian citizens earlier this year.
On Aug. 2, Freeland called for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi and, a day later, her department tweeted further criticism and called for the “immediate release” of Samar Badawi and all peaceful human rights activists.
On Sunday, Saudi Arabia expelled Canada’s ambassador, suspended diplomatic relations and slammed the door to new trade with Canada. It has since recalled thousands of Saudi students studying in Canada, moved to transfer any Saudi patients out of Canadian hospitals and barred the import of Canadian wheat. As of next week, the Saudi-owned airline will cease direct flights to and from Toronto.
The Financial Times, citing unidentified sources, reported Wednesday that the Saudi central bank and state pension funds had instructed their overseas asset managers to dispose of their Canadian equities, bonds and cash holdings “no matter the cost.”
A source at a Saudi bank told Reuters the bank was contacted by the central bank on Wednesday asking for information about all their Canadian exposure — investments in Canada and foreign exchange positions.
Many Saudi media outlets and online personalities have taken to the web and airwaves to criticize Canada for everything from the opioid epidemic to its treatment of Indigenous Peoples.
The intensity of Saudi Arabia’s response has puzzled many, who say it is an extreme reaction to a relatively tame tweet that isn’t much different from what Canada has said before.
Former diplomat Colin Robertson, now vice-president at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, says Saudi Arabia’s “Defcon 3” response is extraordinary, but thinks Canada’s decision to send the message on Twitter may be partly to blame. “We are becoming too carefree with tweets,” said Robertson.
The 140-character limit, or 280 in some cases, is not enough to allow for the level of nuance that is required in diplomatic relations.
“It is diplomacy by tweet that is responsible,” he said. “When you’re the government of Canada and the ministry of foreign affairs, you’ve got to be careful.”
Trudeau, heavily criticized for his 2017 tweet welcoming refugees to Canada as the U.S. was clamping down on its asylum system, didn’t apologize for making use of the medium in this situation.
“I think people understand that in today’s world there are a broad range of communications tools available to individuals, to countries, to share messages, to make statements,” he said. “We will continue to use the full range of methods of communication as appropriate.”