Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry. Photo: CFP

The so-called declaration against "arbitrary detention" is a product of diplomatic fraud, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday. He claimed that the US is most suitable to get credit for arbitrary detention, and urged them to stop their hypocrisy and clumsy performances and focus more on correcting their own wrongdoings.

Some countries have attempted to incite a new round of tensions with China on Tuesday, one year after Canada rounded up a small number of countries to issue a joint declaration on February 15, 2021 against the so-called arbitrary detention, the Global Times learned. 

When Canada gathered a handful of countries to make the declaration, which attacked China on the case of former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, several US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, voiced their support for it.

"How ironic it is that the US and Canada issued statements one year after the Declaration Against the Use of Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations was published on the grounds of human rights protection, when the US is keeping Afghan people's assets as its own. This gives us a vivid example revealing the hypocrisy and double standard of the US and Canada," Wang said at Wednesday's press briefing.

Canada roped some countries into the list of endorsement against the latter's will of not approving and not participating in co-signing the declaration, Wang said, "This fraudulent act that violates the norms governing international relations and makes up the numbers has also met opposition from the countries concerned."

Canada's declaration confuses right from wrong, making unfounded countercharges. Canada detained Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer, who did not breach any Canadian laws, for more than 1,000 days, which actually constitutes arbitrary detention, Wang noted.

In terms of the US, Wang said domestically, the US arbitrarily detains innocent immigrants, separates migrant children from their families by force, and tears innumerable families apart. Internationally, the Guantanamo Bay prison only epitomizes the US' network of secret prisons across the world, 

According to a human rights group, since 2001, the US has turned up to 17 military vessels into "floating prisons" and "floating Guantanamos", where human rights tragedies keep repeating, he added.

After it waged the war against Iraq, the US committed atrocities, torture and murder against Iraqi civilians. The scandals around torturing inmates in the Abu Ghraib prison have shocked the whole world. The hat of arbitrary detention suits the US better than anyone else, Wang said. 

"I want to stress that both the US and Canada have a disgraceful track record causing storms of protest, be it arbitrary detention or human rights violation of people in developing countries. We urge the countries to stop such hypocritical and preposterous performance, and focus on correcting their own mistakes of violating international rules and infringing on human rights, including arbitrary detention," Wang said. 



Global Times