{"id":216715,"date":"2019-05-30T20:23:06","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T00:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=216715"},"modified":"2019-05-30T20:23:06","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T00:23:06","slug":"n-s-premier-critiqued-for-ignoring-china-detentions-to-focus-on-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/30\/n-s-premier-critiqued-for-ignoring-china-detentions-to-focus-on-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"N.S. premier critiqued for ignoring China detentions to focus on trade"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Amid the criticisms of coziness, McNeil told reporters following a cabinet meeting Thursday that in fact he had, in a general way, broached the topic of the troubled relationship with Lu. (File Photo<\/a>: Stephen McNeil\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HALIFAX \u2014 Nova Scotia’s opposition parties say Premier Stephen McNeil should have raised the fate of two imprisoned Canadians while meeting with a Chinese ambassador who has started referring to him as a \u201cgreat friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tory Leader Tim Houston said McNeil’s focus on trade over the arbitrary detentions in his talks with diplomat Lu Shaye on Wednesday amounted to a \u201ccop out\u201d that failed to take advantage of the close relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s disappointing to me to know that the premier was sitting with his friend, the ambassador, and didn’t raise this issue on behalf of all Canadians,\u201d Houston told reporters following Thursday’s cabinet meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that’s an opportunity that was missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNeil’s meeting with the ambassador came amid tensions between Canada and China following the December arrest in Vancouver of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou after an American request for her extradition.<\/p>\n

After Meng’s arrest, China detained two Canadians \u2014 ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor.<\/p>\n

It has accused the pair of violating China’s national security, but the Canadian government has described the arrests as arbitrary and outside of the normal rule of law.<\/p>\n

China has also sentenced two Canadians to death for drug-related convictions and blocked key agricultural shipments.<\/p>\n

The deteriorating relationship has prompted Lu to describe Canada’s ties with China last week as having hit \u201crock bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Days later, the diplomat flew to Halifax and joined McNeil for a photo opportunity \u2014 with no questions permitted from journalists \u2014 where he described the premier as \u201ca great friend\u201d and suggested Nova Scotia was taking the lead among provinces in building ties with his nation.<\/p>\n

Amid the criticisms of coziness, McNeil told reporters following a cabinet meeting Thursday that in fact he had, in a general way, broached the topic of the troubled relationship with Lu.<\/p>\n

\u201cI raised the issue … globally that while there are challenges between our national governments, that our national governments will deal with, we need to keep open the lines of communication and dialogue,\u201d said the premier.<\/p>\n

McNeil said he has not directly discussed the issue of the prisoners \u201cat the political level\u201d with Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, but said senior officials from the Canadian embassy \u201craised the issue\u201d with him before he held talks with the governor of Guandong province during his recent trip to China.<\/p>\n

The premier continued to emphasize his position that ending dialogue with China on regional trade and cultural issues would only increase tensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m going to continue to drive the economic fortunes of our province,\u201d he said. \u201cNot having dialogue … entrenches people into their positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNeil has said a trade delegation is planning a return visit to Nova Scotia, and that he will return to Guandong later this year.<\/p>\n

Nova Scotia has benefited from the expanding trade relationships with the southern Chinese province. Nova Scotia exports to China totalled $794 million in 2018, up from $275 million in 2014.<\/p>\n

NDP Leader Gary Burrill said it’s quite acceptable to continue the trade and cultural missions and talks, but he wishes that McNeil would also put a stronger spotlight on the issue of human rights.<\/p>\n

He said at a time when Canadians are arbitrarily detained by China, discussion between McNeil and Lu \u201cought not to go from beginning to end without that matter being raised.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HALIFAX \u2014 Nova Scotia’s opposition parties say Premier Stephen McNeil should have raised the fate of two imprisoned Canadians while …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":216717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-michael-tutton","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216718,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216715\/revisions\/216718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}