By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ISTANBUL (AA) - China on Wednesday slammed Canada over human rights sanctions, saying the North American nation has its own problems with human rights, state media reported.
Canada has a “long history of human rights violations and numerous problems,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.
The statement came in response to new sanctions against eight former or current senior Chinese officials over alleged human rights violations.
“Rather than reflecting on its own problems, Canada brazenly slanders and defames other countries, spreading lies about so-called human rights issues in China,” Mao said.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said the sanctioned Chinese officials were involved in “grave human rights violations in the country."
The sanctions were in response to "Chinese government-led repression of ethnic and religious minorities in China, including in Xinjiang, Tibet and against those who practice Falun Gong (Christian sect outlawed by Beijing),” said Melanie, marking International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.
“This is a typical case of the thief shouting ‘catch the thief,’ making itself a laughingstock in the eyes of the world,” spokeswoman Mao retorted, calling on Canada to lift the “illegal” sanctions on these individuals.
Mao warned that China would take all necessary measures to “resolutely safeguard its national sovereignty, security, and development interests.”
However, the Canadian foreign minister said Ottawa had a "deep" concern over reports in China indicating arbitrary detaining of "more than one million people in Xinjiang since 2017, many of whom were held in camps and faced psychological, physical and sexual violence."
Xinjiang is home to more than 10 million Uyghurs. The Turkic Muslim group, which makes up around 45% of the region’s population, has long accused China of cultural, religious, and economic discrimination.
Beijing denies the charge.
Over the years, Beijing has also pushed back criticism over Tibet, calling it interference in its "internal affairs."
In the recent past, Canada has also faced criticism over its handling of pro-Gaza demonstrations.
Human rights defenders have also criticized Ottawa over its crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, as well as people affected by climate change.