Guilty of Being Canadian ... Incarcerated in China

Huseyn Celil, Uighur activist, Cdn citizen

"It's been really tough for us. I always say, 'I wish he would come back and see you guys [their children], how much you've grown'."

"They are becoming adults and they haven't seen their dad since they were little [14 years earlier]."

"I was hoping for more from the Liberal government, but Trudeau hasn't done anything."

Kamila Talendibaeva, Canadian Uighur, Toronto

"After those Canadians [Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig] got arrested ... it was like nothing happened, business as usual with the Chinese government."

"That basically gave them a signal, a message: 'It's OK to arrest a Canadian citizen. There's no consequences."

"There's a green light." 

"She [Sun Qian] is almost forgotten in a very dark, cruel place."

Grace Wollensack, Falun Gong Canadian spokeswoman

Sun Qian, a Canadian citizen and Falun Gong practitioner. Supplied

Canadian citizen Sun Qian was forced before a Chinese court on Tuesday, sentenced to eight years in prison; her crime: following the Falun Gong movement, banned in China. Accused and first arrested in 2017 as being involved in "heretical religious organizations" which threatened to disrupt the law, her lawyer Xie Yanyi, attempted repeatedly to secure a meeting on his client's behalf with John McCallum, then the Canadian ambassador to China, but was unsuccessful.

Unsurprising, that Ambassador McCallum was disinterested in becoming 'involved' as is the duty of a diplomat in a foreign country, representing the interests of his own country and that of its citizens, instead reflecting the commercial-trade interests of the Liberal government -- any Canadian Liberal government -- intent on securing inroads into doing more business with China, securing trade agreements, ingratiating themselves with the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.

Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien infamously made a great show of hauling along Canadian business executives on his many and lavish trade trips to China while in public office, paving the way for the future when, no longer prime minister, he took advantage of all the Chinese business contacts he had made, to guide Canadian business leaders into the huge market to exploit trade and investment opportunities as a consultant for a large and influential Canadian law firm.

His successor, Justin Trudeau, is no less invested in the same mission, after a Conservative government intermission led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper who, citing human rights abuses, was loathe to move Canada into the CCP-Beijing orbit and was roundly criticized and belittled by Liberal party leaders as a result. Notoriously, behind-the-scenes diplomatic overtures for the release of Canadians from Chinese prisons have failed.

Ms.Sun, a Canadian citizen since 2007, spent time both in Vancouver and Beijing, where she and her husband were owners of a biochemical company. On her original arrest she was forced to wear arm and leg shackles for prolonged periods of time; was repeatedly pepper-sprayed and subjected to anti-Falun Gong brainwashing. She now has been punished further with an additional eight years in prison, a situation her lawyer links to pressure Beijing is applying to Canada for the release of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, held in Canada on a U.S. extradition request.

Kamila Talendibaeva's husband Huseyn Celil has spent 14 years in prison, not permitted any contact whatever with his Canadian family, though he too holds Canadian citizenship. His relatives in China were able to visit with him every six months, relaying information about him back to his wife and children, living in Toronto. Until they too disappeared, vanished into a Chinese prison for Falun Gong crimes against China.

FreeChina.net  Wang Bing-Zhang

Wang Bing-Zhang, 72, imprisoned in China as a pro-democracy activist whose wife, children and parents are all Canadian citizens has not seen his family in 17 years. His daughter Ti-Anna Wang, a Toronto lawyer, has admitted that the family's appeals to the Canadian government appear to have fallen on deaf ears: "We have 17, 18 years now of experience and we know what doesn't work", she stated. 

According to Cherie Wong of Alliance Canada Hong Kong, 123 Canadians are being detained in China, in a country that harshly punishes dissenters as 'terrorists' plotting against the unity of the country. Celil's family had been visiting his wife's relatives in Uzbekistan in 2006 when he was arrested and handed over to China where he was convicted of terrorist activities, with no 'evidence' ever being presented to support the charge. 

As for Mr. Wang, he co-founded the overseas Chinese democracy movement, was captured in Vietnam in 2002 by Chinese secret police who spirited him across the border where he was convicted at a one-day closed trial of spying, and terrorism; no evidence required. So much for Canada's distinguished record as a supporter of human rights, concerned for the welfare of its own citizens.

Pictures of Michael Spavor, a Canadian businessman, and Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, both detained in China since December 2018, are displayed on a video monitor as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, U.S., July 1, 2020. Manuel Balce Ceneta/Pool via REUTERS