China

OTTAWA — Canada’s religious freedom ambassador says he is deeply troubled about the Chinese government’s “egregious” treatment of religious minorities, and that he won’t hold his tongue despite growing trade ties between the two countries. Since becoming Canada’s inaugural ambassador for religious freedom in February, Andrew Bennett has condemned attacks and restrictions on religious minorities in Egypt, Pakistan, Iran and Syria. But Bennett pulled no punches on China in an interview Monday, saying he remains very worried about the Chinese government’s “unacceptable” treatment of Falun Gong practitioners as well as Buddhist Tibetans, Uighur Muslims and Christians.

Growing discontent and unceasing restiveness among Tibetan and Uyghur minorities in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region ensured that domestic security issues dominate Xi Jinping’s agenda. Stark reminders of discontent surfaced in the days leading up to the plenum. China’s leaders allocated vast sums for the domestic security budget which this year officially exceeds US$ 110 billion. The domestic security budget has now surpassed the national defence budget for the past three consecutive years. This will increase with the creation at the recent plenum of the National Security Committee (NSC). The head of China’s official foreign policy think tank said the new NSC would focus on the “Three Evils” (terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism) in addition to co-ordinating international strategy, particularly on maritime issues.

Direct Chinese investments in Afghanistan totalled US$200 million in 2011, but the estimated value of Chinese-backed projects is higher. For example, a copper mine project in Aynak backed by state-owned Metallurgical Company of China and Jiangxi Copper Corporation is worth nearly US$3.5 billion. China National Petroleum Corporation also has an energy project in northern Afghanistan. With that economic toehold, there have been calls for Beijing to deepen its security engagement with Afghanistan to prevent extremists in restive Xinjiang from going to Afghanistan to receive training from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. China has blamed the movement for a car crash attack that killed five in Tiananmen Square on October 28.

When China denied veteran journalist Paul Mooney’s visa request this past November, neither the State Department, Administration officials nor anyone on Capitol Hill said anything publicly about a U.S. citizen appearing to be punished for his speech. Similarly, when China failed to renew U.S. citizen and Al Jazeera English correspondent Melissa Chan’s visa, forcing her to leave China in May 2012, a State Department deputy spokesperson merely expressed the Department’s “disappointment” very briefly during a regular Q&A session with the press: “I would just say that we’re disappointed in the Chinese Government – in how the Chinese Government decided not to renew her accreditation. To our knowledge, she operated and reported in accordance with Chinese law, including regulations that permit foreign journalists to operate freely in China.” Such has been the extent of the Administration’s public statements, until now.