China Embassy berates Canada
Senate move on South China Sea ‘irresponsible’
The Chinese Embassy in Canada on Wednesday condemned a Canadian Senate motion criticizing China’s activities in the South China Sea, calling it “irresponsible” and suggesting it would “cast shadows” over bilateral relations.
“Canada is not a party to the South China Sea issue,” read a statement posted on the Chinese Embassy in Canada’s website. Some people, knowing nothing or caring nothing about what really happened in the South China Sea, in the guise of respecting international laws and safeguarding the freedom of navigation and overflight, groundlessly blamed China and tried to get Canada into the trap, it said.
“This is irresponsible,” read the statement. The purpose was nothing but casting shadows over China-Canada relations, which are developing smoothly. But it would be futile and doomed to fail, it said.
The Canadian Senate on Tuesday passed the motion criticizing China for its actions in the South China Sea.
The motion was first introduced in May 2016 by Conservative Senator Thanh Hai Ngo, but the vote was held up almost two years until it passed 43-29 in the Senate on Tuesday, with six abstentions.
“The motion itself has little legal effect on the actual South China Sea matter. It is more of a gesture on public media,” Zhou Rongyao, an expert on China-Canada relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times.
He noted that the Canadian Senate often plays a role of supervision and is not a critical party in the country’s foreign policy.
“Whether it will impact Canada’s China policy needs more observation, but I doubt the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau administration would want to sabotage ties with China over this issue,” Zhou said.
In May last year, China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations members drew up and approved the framework of the South China Sea Code of Conduct and are set to discuss the text this year. The code is designed for relevant parties to regulate behavior and resolve disputes by peaceful means.
“The motion was passed against the backdrop of ongoing China-US trade disputes. It sounds to me like a veiled message to line up with the US, not on the South China Sea issue but on a more recent matter,” Zhou said.
Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Wednesday deplored a Group of Seven statement made in Toronto that mentioned China’s human rights, the East and South China seas.
“We urge these countries to respect the reality, especially on maritime issues, and respect efforts from regional countries to maintain stability and focus on cooperation and development, and stop making irresponsible comments,” Lu said.
The Canadian Senate Tuesday passed a motion criticizing China for “escalating and hostile behavior” in the South China Sea and urging Beijing to cease militarizing the region through activities like building artificial islands. Proposed by Conservative Senator Thanh Hai Ngo, the vote was held up for almost two years.
China has reiterated on various occasions that the South China Sea islands have been China’s territory since ancient times. Hence Canadian senators are in no position to speak out on China’s legitimate activities on its territory and meddle in China’s sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the Senate seems to not identify with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s policy toward China. Trudeau apparently expected to push forward relations with China and deepen cooperation in all fields. The two countries are entering a golden era with wide-ranging cooperation, as hailed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during Trudeau’s visit to China in December.
It’s awkward to see a country irrelevant to the South China Sea issue show its concerns from afar while related countries have worked to ease tensions considerably and solve the dispute through negotiations. The Philippines, which had taken the South China Sea dispute to the international Permanent Court of Arbitration, now cooperates with China on developing maritime resources.
Canadian senators who voted in favor of the motion may have to think over the South China Sea issue from another perspective. What if China passed a similar motion advocating Quebec independence and supporting its separation from Canada? They would then get a fresh idea of how to act more responsibly.
Canadian Senator Paul Yuen Woo, a leader of the Independent Senate Group, may have told the truth. He said the upper chamber was not sufficiently informed on evolving foreign policy matters to make such a pronouncement and the motion would not contribute to easing tensions or help Canadian interests in the region, The Globe and Mail reported. Probably the Senate would want to take a ride in criticizing China as the West becomes more vigilant of China. But the move has missed the point.
Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, expected the Senate to be a place of “sober second thought.”
But in voting on the motion, unfortunately the senators have failed to act in a sober manner. The scandalridden Senate had better ask its members to spend some time learning more about what’s happening worldwide before they turn their votes into a laughing stock.