Canada's weak response to Zhang sentence panned

Reported on China's actions in pandemic

OTTAWA • The Liberal government fell woefully short in its timid response to the incarceration earlier this week of a Chinese citizen journalist who chronicled the country's pandemic response, diplomatic and human rights experts say.

The criticism comes after the official twitter account for Global Affairs Canada stated briefly on Tuesday that it was “very concerned” about the incarceration of Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan earlier this week. GAC has not yet issued an official statement on the matter, while the U.S., U.K. and European Union all offered full-throated and official condemnation of the conviction.

A Chinese court on Dec. 28 sentenced Zhang to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vague charge often used against critics of the government in China. Zhang was among many socalled “citizen journalists” who chronicled the initial outbreak of the virus in Wuhan early this year, and who helped spotlight the Communist Party of China's draconian lockdowns and alleged attempts to conceal the seriousness of the virus.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted the “sham prosecution and conviction” of Zhang Tuesday afternoon, saying the trial had “shown once again (they) will do whatever it takes to silence those who question the Party's official line, even regarding crucial public health information.”

The EU said Zhang's right to a fair trial and due process “have not been respected,” and called for her immediate release. The U.K. foreign affairs office sent out a brief statement claiming that Zhang and 12 Hong Kong activists had been “tried in secret” on Monday, “raising further serious questions about access to legal counsel in Mainland China.”

Canada by comparison offered a note on twitter Tuesday afternoon, repeating calls for Zhang's release but falling short of a statement about the perceived fairness of the trial.

“Canada is very concerned following the 4-year sentence of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan,” Global Affairs Canada tweeted Tuesday. “We call for her immediate release and that of others who report on the COVID-19 pandemic in China, including Fang Bin, Chen Mei and Cai Wei.”

Several observers in Canada say that response failed to meet basic standards under Canada's obligation to support human rights abroad, and point to the immense pressure being placed on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to soften his criticism of the Communist state.

“I'm disappointed that there hasn' t been more on this,” said Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, former member of the Canada-China Joint Committee on Science and Technology and a senior official in the Department of Finance from 1994 to 2004.

The statement by Ottawa comes amid tension between the Canadian and Chinese governments, who have been sparring ever since Canadian authorities arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition request in 2018. China soon after arrested two Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, on vague charges that are widely viewed in Canada as retaliation.

McCuaig-Johnston said the tepid statement by the Trudeau government is a clear indication of its hesitancy against further deepening rifts between the two countries, but she also noted that a softer response is unlikely to win the Chinese leadership over.

“China does not respect other countries that are weak. And so to sit back quietly, meekly, is not an approach that will win us respect in Beijing,” she said.

Others said they hoped more would be coming from Ottawa after the conviction of 37-year-old Zhang, who had posted videos that questioned why Chinese authorities had sought to silence whistleblowers about the virus. Other videos suggested China's lockdowns on citizens had been overly harsh.

“What we have seen from Canada is absolutely not enough,” said Alex Neve, former chair of the Canadian Coalition of Human Rights in China. “We really need to build on the expression of concern in that tweet and make it very clear how seriously we take this case.”

Neve said the trial of Zhang and Hong Kong activists in China is one that will set a precedent for international human rights abuses more widely, and requires allied countries to work in tandem to oppose the Chinese regime. “Zhang Zhan's case is one that Canada needs to rise to with real seriousness and urgency,” he said.

Canada's response on Tuesday may signal the growing dependence of the Canadian economy on China, both for trade and foreign direct investment that has flowed into Canada's natural resource sector, a critic said.

Charles Burton, a China expert at the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said the statement by Ottawa was “indicative of the extent to which the Chinese regime has been able to suppress any Canadian government standing for the rulesbased international order.”

CHINA DOES NOT RESPECT OTHER COUNTRIES THAT ARE WEAK.

TYRONE SIU / REUTERS Pro-democracy supporters urge for the release of 12 Hong Kong activists arrested as they reportedly sailed to Taiwan for political asylum, as well as journalist Zhang Zhan on the Mainland, outside China's Liaison Office in Hong Kong.