Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he raised human rights, minority rights and good governance in his meetings with Chinese leaders over the weekend. But one prominent activist says the prime minister must be more open with Canadians about exactly what issues he’s discussing.
Harper wrapped up a five-day trip to China with business leaders, who secured some $2.5 billion worth of trade deals with the Chinese. While it was not the most lucrative trade trip for a Canadian delegation, it set a tone that China-Canada relations are on solid footing despite some recent diplomatic skirmishes.
Harper met with the Chinese premier on Saturday, and the president on Sunday, and says he raised issues beyond trade with both leaders.
“You can rest assured that every single item that is important in the area of consular issues, human rights, governance, the rights of minorities, I have raised every single one of those,” Harper told reporters at a news conference at the close of his trip.
He did not offer specifics, and there was no word from the Chinese about the issues raised or how they intend to respond.
Activist Cheuk Kwan of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China says Canadians are left to take Harper at his word that he has raised issues such as human rights during his meetings.
“What our prime minister needs to do is not to soft-pedal the issue, but also to be more specific about the cases they are raising,” Kwan told CTV’s Canada AM on Monday. “And share them with the public.”
One specific concern that Harper raised was the arrest last August of Canadians Kevin and Julia Garratt, who remain in custody on suspicion of spying for North Korea. Their son says the couple are being held in separate locations and are only let outside for 30 minutes every day.
The couple’s family says that, while Harper ends his trip without securing the Garratts’ release, they are confident the two will be out of jail by Christmas, CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported from China.
However, there are three other cases of Canadians jailed in China on possibly trumped-up charges that Canadians don’t know about, Kwan said.
“And we need the prime minister to be vigilant about bringing those cases up.”
Kwan also hopes that Harper has raised the issue of Hong Kong, where hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators have taken to the streets.
Canada is a signatory to the agreement that set the terms for the British handover of Hong Kong to China.
“We have a responsibility to uphold that and maintain that, and I think our prime minister needs to be rigid about that and make that very public,” Kwan said.
Harper may be hesitant to raise specifics or be forceful with the Chinese in public, based on the diplomatic push back he received for a speech highly critical of the Chinese that he delivered in 2006.
However, with this most recent successful trip, it’s clear that both trade and human rights can be put out for discussion at the same time, Kwan said.
