Lu Shaye, China’s ambassador to Canada, has accused the country of double standards and adapting “Western egotism” and “white supremacy” for demanding the release of the two detained Canadian diplomats in China following the arrest of a top Huawei Technologies executive.
In an op-ed published on Wednesday, Lu took aim at the country’s “elites,” according to South China Morning Post.
“It seems that, to some people, only Canadian citizens shall be treated in a humanitarian manner and their freedom deemed valuable, while Chinese people do not deserve that,” Lu wrote in The Hill Times, referencing to the arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer, Sabrina Meng Wanzhou.
“When China called on the Canadian side to release Meng and ensure her legal and legitimate rights and interests, those elites claimed in the media that Canada is a country of rule of law and has an independent judiciary, and therefore it must comply with the judicial proceeding,” he continued. “However, in the case of detention of Canadian citizens in China who violated China’s law, those elites completely dismissed China’s law and presumptuously urged China to immediately release their citizens. It seems that, to those people, the laws of Canada or other Western countries are laws and must be observed, while China’s laws are not and shouldn’t be respected.”
“The reason why some people are used to arrogantly adopting double standards is due to Western egotism and white supremacy.”
“In such a context, the rule of law is nothing but a tool for their political ends and a fig leaf for their practicing hegemony in the international arena,” he continued. “What they have been doing is not showing respect for the rule of law, but mocking and trampling the rule of law.”
Michael Kovrig, an entrepreneur, and Michael Spavor, a former Canadian diplomat, were detained by Chinese authorities last year on “national security” grounds. Meng was arrested by the Canadian Justice Department at the request of the United States government during a layover at an airport in Vancouver, Canada earlier in December.
Former Canadian envoys, meanwhile, have drawn a link suggesting that Korvig and Spavor’s arrest was a response to the arrest of Meng, who has been released on bail and is living under restriction in her home in Vancouver.
Featured image screenshot via YouTube / Business in Vancouver
