Chinese minister vents anger when Canadian reporter asks about human rights – The Guardian

China’s foreign minister berated a journalist during a visit to Canada on Wednesday for asking an “irresponsible” question about China’s human rights record.

Wang Yi was in Ottawa to meet prime minister Justin Trudeau and Stéphane Dion, the minister of foreign affairs. At a joint news conference offered by Wang and Dion, Canadian journalists were limited to one question and a follow-up for both ministers.

Reporter Amanda Connolly of online news site IPolitics directed a question to Dion that touched on the case of Canadian Kevin Garratt, detained since 2014 in China on charges of espionage and stealing state secrets.

Connolly said: “There are no shortages of concerns about China’s treatment of human rights advocates such as the Hong Kong booksellers and its detention of the Garratts, not to mention the destabilising effects of its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea.”

She followed up with another question, which had been agreed upon by several news media. “Given these concerns, why is Canada pursuing closer ties with China, how do you plan to use that relationship to improve human rights and security in the region, and did you specifically raise the case of the Garratts during your talks?”

Dion said he had addressed the case with Wang and that the two had had an “honest and frank” conversation on human rights and consular affairs. “We expect that we will not always see eye-to-eye with each other, but we need to make progress,” said Dion.

Wang later weighed in with his own response, telling the reporter, “I have to say that your question is full of prejudice against China and arrogance … I don’t know where that comes from. This is totally unacceptable,” he said through an interpreter.

He continued, visibly angry. “Other people don’t know better than the Chinese people about the human rights condition in China and it is the Chinese people who are in the best situation, in the best position to have a say about China’s human rights situation.”

Wang asked the journalist if she had ever been to China. “Do you know that China has lifted more than 600 million people out of poverty? … And do you know China has written protection and promotion of human rights into our constitution?”

Canada’s foreign minister stood by quietly as he continued. “So I would like to suggest to you please don’t ask questions in such an irresponsible manner and though we welcome goodwill suggestions, we reject groundless or unwarranted accusations,” he said.

China is currently witnessing a period of political tightening that human rights activists and observers say is the most severe since the days following the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen protesters.

Since President Xi Jinping took power in late 2012, security forces have harassed, threatened and imprisoned scores of government critics including bloggers, journalists, lawyers, feminist campaigners and scholars.

In January, a Swedish human rights activist was taken into secret detention and then paraded on television after being accused of being a foreign agent attempting to undermine the Communist party.

More than 20 people remain in detention following an unprecedented crackdown on human rights lawyers that began in July 2015.

Wang’s verbal attack on the journalist and Canada’s failure to speak out against it sparked online criticism.

“And Mr Dion just stands there??” tweeted Tony Clement, a Conservative party of Canada MP.

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