WARNING FROM CHINA
Canada told to butt out
WARNING COMES AFTER OTTAWA HALTS HONG KONG PRIVILEGES, EYES MOVE ON IMMIGRATION
China said on Monday it reserved the right to take more action after Canada suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and said efforts to pressure Beijing were “doomed to fail like kicking against the pricks.”
Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said Hong Kong’s affairs are internal Chinese business and other countries have no right to get involved.
“China urges the Canadian side to immediately correct its mistakes and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China’s other internal affairs in any way so as to avoid further damage to China-canada relations,” Zhao said in a translated transcript posted to the ministry’s website.
On Friday Canada joined other countries in restricting exports to Hong Kong and complaining that a new security law China imposed on Hong Kong violates the principle of “one country, two systems” that is meant to govern Hong
Kong’s place in China. Canada also suspended its extradition agreement with Hong Kong.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would look at more measures, potentially including moves related to immigration. Britain, for instance, has created a path to citizenship for Hong Kong residents who have certain documents dating from when it was a British territory, prior to 1997.
“Their attempt to exert pressure on China under the pretext of Hong Kong-related issues is completely against the trend of time, and doomed to fail like kicking against the pricks,” the Chinese foreign ministry statement said.
“Kicking against the pricks” is an English expression meaning “to hurt oneself by struggling against something in vain,” according to the Collins dictionary.
Separately, China warned its citizens on Monday to exercise caution in travelling to Canada, citing “frequent violent actions” by law enforcement.
China and Canada have been locked in a dispute since late 2018 after the RCMP detained Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, on a U.S. arrest warrant. She is still being held pending possible extradition to the United States. In retaliation, China charged two Canadians with espionage and blocked canola imports.
Bob Rae, newly tapped as Canada’s next UN ambassador, said Monday that working to get Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor freed is a top priority. He said he supports Trudeau’s position that no swap of Meng’s freedom for theirs is reasonable, partly because it would reward China’s behaviour.
And he brushed off China’s Canadian travel warning.
“I’m a great reader of George Orwell, and I think to really appreciate the world today you have to read ‘Nineteen Eighty-four.’ Some strange things are going on,” Rae said.
“For some country to suggest that this is a bad time to come to Canada is, frankly, bizarre. They have their own reasons for saying it; I don’t think we should take it entirely seriously. Sometimes humour is a good relief when you’re facing these moments.”
Canada has had a relationship with Hong Kong for centuries, he said, including defending it from Japanese attack in the Second World War.
“We have a stake here and we have interests. We have many Canadians of Hong Kong origin. So it’s not, we’re not meddling in anybody else’s business. We’re talking about our business, our relationships, which are important to us, and we shouldn’t shy away from expressing those thoughts,” Rae said.
Meanwhile, a Beijing law professor who has been an outspoken critic of China’s ruling Communist Party and
President Xi Jinping was arrested on Monday.
Xu Zhangrun, 57, a professor at the prestigious Tsinghua University, came to prominence in 2018 for denouncing the removal of the two-term limit, which allows Xi to remain in office beyond his current second term.
According to a text message circulated among Xu’s friends and seen by Reuters, he was taken from his house in suburban Beijing on Monday morning by more than 20 policemen, who also searched his house and confiscated his computer.
Zhao, the foreign ministry spokesman, said he had no information about the arrest when asked Monday.
One of Xu’s friends, who did not want to be named, said he had not been able to contact Xu since hearing news of his detainment.
The friend said that at a gathering in January, Xu said he was mentally prepared for whatever punishment may await him.
He Weifang, a prominent Peking University law professor who has long known Xu, said that Xu had been deeply worried and anxious about China’s direction in recent years.
“He felt that the country was going backwards and that as a public intellectual, he has the duty to speak up,” He said.
FOR SOME COUNTRY TO SUGGEST THAT THIS IS A BAD TIME TO COME TO CANADA IS, FRANKLY, BIZARRE.