As Gov. Gen. David Johnston prepares to end his service as the Queen’s representative in Canada, he took a moment to defend his goodwill mission to China earlier this month.
During a candid one-on-one interview with CTV’s Daniele Hamamdjian in London on Wednesday, the outgoing Governor General discussed his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, on the same day Nobel Peace Laureate and democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo died in Chinese custody.
Xiaobo, the 61-year-old Chinese dissident sentenced to 11 years in prison for signing a manifesto calling for freedom of speech in China, died from liver cancer on July 13.
Johnston said he learned of Xiaobo’s death shortly after a formal dinner with Xi and other Canadian dignitaries.
The Governor General was in Beijing to lead a Canadian delegation tasked with fostering diplomatic relations and signing agreements aimed at closer co-operation on culture and sport.
Johnston said he brought up Canada’s concerns with China’s treatment of Xiaobo as well as its broader human rights record.
“We spoke at some length and obviously we had a different opinion about it, but it was a conversation that lasted for some time,” Johnston said, describing their conversation.
“He went through [in] some detail, and in a very clear fashion, China’s system of the rule of law, the features of their criminal justice system that they regard as offences, the process that was taken with respect to our friend, the winner of the peace prize, and some of his concerns about the peace prize itself, and due process as he saw it,” he said.
When asked why he told the Chinese president that he felt as if he had returned home, Johnston said he was referring to being at China’s Nanjing University in light of his experience as vice-chancellor of Montreal’s McGill University.
In addition to his trip to China, Johnston also reflected on his relationship with the Queen, his seven-year term as Governor General and his thoughts on his successor, Julie Payette.
