cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/8336362
[Op-ed by Irwin Cotler, international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights; and Mehmet Tohti is the executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project.]
China’s new visa-free policy for Canadians may appear to signal openness. In reality, it exposes Canadians to risks our government has found difficult to mitigate.
Consider Huseyin Celil, a Canadian citizen illegally detained in China for two decades.
Mr. Celil, a peaceful advocate for the rights of the Uyghur people, travelled to Uzbekistan in 2006, where he was detained and forcibly transferred to China. There, he was convicted on baseless “terrorism” charges in a sham trial condemned by Canada.
China has continued to refuse to recognize Mr. Celil’s Canadian citizenship, thereby denying him the basic protections owed to him under international law, including consular access. His family in Canada has been without meaningful communication or reliable information about his condition for almost two decades. Their uncertainty is continuing; their suffering is immeasurable.
His case is an enduring injustice and test of Canada’s capacity to protect its citizens abroad.
...
It exposes a contradiction: How can a state that denies a Canadian citizen his rights simultaneously claim to welcome Canadians?
...
For those engaged in human rights advocacy, political activity, or public criticism of the Chinese Communist Party, this [visa-free visits to China] creates a major vulnerability at the border. They may face increased risks of refusal of entry, disappearance or imprisonment.
For many Canadians in these diaspora communities, the question is no longer “Can I travel?” but “Will I be safe if I do – and will my country help me if I am not?” This risk is not confined to diaspora communities. If Canadian citizenship can be ignored in Mr. Celil’s case, it can be ignored in others’.
When a foreign state can detain a Canadian with impunity and deny their Canadian citizenship, the protection that citizenship is meant to guarantee erodes for everyone.
...
The new visa-free policy intersects with a broader pattern of surveillance, intimidation and foreign interference. The Foreign Interference Commission concluded that **China “stands out as the most persistent and sophisticated foreign interference threat to Canada.” **Beijing targets democratic institutions, politicians, and the diaspora through intelligence services to advance its interests and manipulate Canadian politics. The PRC views Canada as a high-priority target, not only for foreign interference, but transnational repression, in violation of Canadian sovereignty and security.
...
Twenty years after Mr. Celil’s abduction, we call on the government of Canada to raise his case and to:
- Engage in high-level diplomatic representations to seek proof of life.
- As the home country, provide the necessary diplomatic and consular assistance and remedy. We likewise call on China, as the host country, to honour its obligations for that purpose.
- Restore family contact, including at least one phone call with his wife and children in Canada with all deliberate speed.
- Renew efforts to secure his release and reunite him with his family here.
These are not extraordinary demands. They are the minimum obligations owed to any Canadian citizen.
...
I read it - liar about Uyghur genocide claims China unlawfully detained someone related to an accusaton of supporting terrorism in the Uyghur Autonomous Region, and because of this action, Canada should oppose Visa free travel with China. Then they make ridiculous claims about Visa free travel making travel more dangerous for so-called critics of the 'CCP', which doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Surely Visa free travel makes it easier to enter the country without having to declare loads about your journey.
If this goon was so opposed to random black bagging of Arabs then they would be the most ardent ideological opponent of the USA what with their whole torture facility in Guantanamo Bay, their numerous black sites in Iraq and Afghanistan, the genocides they've helped Israel commit against the Palestinians etc.
From exit bans to arbitrary arrests, vague laws, unsubstantiated charges, grueling prison sentences, and secret executions — the risks keep growing for China visitors, and it's not only about 'dual citizens' but also those with a non-Chinese citizenship.
In 2024, China confirmed it had detained British businessman Ian Stones, five years after he first disappeared in Beijing and almost 18 months after he was put on trial in secret and convicted of “illegally providing intelligence” to overseas parties, as reported the Globe and Mail. The same article says, among others,
The article makes an interesting read.
In 2025, China also restarted to air forced confessions of foreigners in its propaganda channnels,
Reports say there are around 100 Canadians detained in China, some of them sentenced to death.
Spooky China that millions visit each year completely safely, meanwhile visitors to the US are detained by ICE for arbitrary reasons and minor infarctions on Visa terms regularly. One of these is a reason to end visa free travel, the other is just one of those things Canada's silly little neighbour does. Don't ask what happens to people the west deem as terrorists when they dare to visit! It's obviously completely different with China. China is scary and authoritarian, the West are just looking out for their national security of course.
China is not allowed to arrest anyone that it deems a threat, to do so must be completely wrong and over reach, perfect for western press-titutes to opine over endlessly in countless anti-communist rants and screeds to keep their population terrified of the spooky communists, who are also actually just capitalists sometimes, don't hold us to any specifics.
Edit: hell of a lot of 'could' in that first article, and also presuming the innocence of all those business people arrested, because of course China would never get it right and correctly arrest someone for corporate espionage. Got to make everyone scared of ever saying 'the wrong thing' if they visit China, even though shit loads of completely uninformed and naive tourists travel there on the regular from across the world, including the west, without being arrested arbitrarily.
Edit 2: Kovrig was detained in part because Canada arrested and detained the CFO of Huawei at the behest of the Americans, and was released days after the CFO was released back to China on no charges. Kovrig is a security asset for Canada, working in numerous parts of the Canadian Foreign Security apparatus, not just some random guy. So Canada is allowed to detain Chinese citizens with no case, but if China does so in retaliation that is beyond the pale.