Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said on Saturday that China behaves like a “bully” at school recess, so you have to be firm about that attitude.
“I’ve met bullies in my life and I know that bullies can change, but they only change if you send them very clear messages,” Garneau said in an interview with CBC public radio, alluding to sanctions against Beijing taken by various countries, including Canada.
The interview was recorded before China announced on Saturday that it was banning Canadian MP Michael Chong and members of a parliamentary human rights committee from entering its territory.
The European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada on Monday imposed coordinated sanctions against past and current leaders in the Xinjiang region, where various reports accuse Beijing of keeping Uighur Muslims in “forced labor” “camps”.
China responded immediately with sanctions against European and British figures.
Garneau stressed that Canada “reserves the right to take additional measures” if China does not change its attitude.
The Chancellor also welcomed the fact that a score of countries have joined Canada to demand the release of Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, detained for more than two years in China for “espionage.”
Ottawa considers it to be an “arbitrary detention” in response to the arrest in Canada, at the request of the United States, of a senior executive of the Chinese giant Huawei.
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