Canada has become the second country in the world to describe China’s treatment of its Uighur minority as genocide, following a controversial parliamentary vote that is likely to further heighten diplomatic tensions between the two nations.
Lawmakers approved the non-binding motion, filed by opposition conservatives, to recognize China’s actions in northwestern Xinjiang province as a genocide against Muslim Uighurs.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and senior cabinet members did not attend the vote on Monday. All other liberal members in attendance voted in favor of the motion, except Foreign Minister Marc Garneau, who abstained on behalf of the government.
In calling the actions in China genocide, Canada joins the United States, which made the decision just before Donald Trump stepped down. A similar attempt at voting in the UK failed earlier this month.
But the Canadian parliament’s decision is likely to bring a series of new political challenges to the prime minister, who in recent years has tried to strike a balance between resisting China’s hostilities and maintaining cordial relations with Beijing.
Trudeau, whose liberal party rules without a parliamentary majority, had previously spoken out against taking the motion to a vote, telling reporters that genocide was an “extremely heavy” term and that further studies on the subject were needed before a determination could be made.
Over the weekend, China’s ambassador to Canada criticized the vote, telling the Canadian press that officials in Ottawa should stay out of China’s domestic politics.
“We are strongly opposed to this because it goes against the facts. And it’s like, you know, interfering with our domestic affairs, ”said Cong Peiwu. “There is nothing like the genocide going on in Xinjiang.”
More than 1 million Uighurs have been detained in camps in Xinjiang province and reports of systematic rape and sexual violence have emerged. China denies such accusations and describes the facilities as vocational and educational training centers, saying it is trying to eliminate extremism.
But last October, a Canadian parliamentary subcommittee ruled that China’s treatment of Uighurs was genocide.
The motion is likely to increase tensions between the two countries, whose relationship has already suffered significant tensions since the arrest by a U.S. warrant from Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou in December 2018. Within days, two Canadian citizens – Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor – were held in China.
Canada described the detention of men as “hostage diplomacy”.
Prior to the vote, conservative leader Erin O’Toole said the motion was necessary to send a “clear and unambiguous signal that we will fight for human rights and the dignity of human rights, even if it means sacrificing some opportunity”.
Conservatives, new Democrats, the Québécois bloc and the Greens have called for sanctions against Chinese officials and for the next Winter Olympics to be transferred from Beijing.