MONTREAL — China’s new ambassador to Canada is threatening “very firm countermeasures” if Parliament adopts a motion calling for sanctions over alleged Chinese human rights abuses against Muslim Uighurs and pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Conservative Senator Leo Housakos recently announced he and Senator Thanh Hai Ngo will table a motion calling on the Liberal government to sanction Chinese officials under the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, also known as the Magnitsky Act. The Chinese government is conducting “preventative counter-terrorism measures” that are providing security to the country, he said. It would require the State Department to evaluate whether Chinese officials would meet the criteria for sanctions for their roles in enacting oppressive policies. “These two Canadians are arrested by competent Chinese authorities because they are suspected of endangering Chinese national security,” Cong said.

Source: National Post December 06, 2019 13:37 UTC