Ottawa, Jan 11 (AHN) US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to make the human rights issue a key focus of his visit to China from January 13-17, asking him to press the Chinese government to end its repression in Xinjiang and ensure full compliance with international labour rights conventions.

HRW has stated that Carney, during his visit to China, should raise key issues, including links between the Chinese government’s forced labour and imports to Canada, the persecution and imprisonment of human rights defenders, and China’s targeting of critics abroad, including in Canada.

In a statement, HRW's Deputy Asia Director, Maya Wang, said: "Prime Minister Carney should recognise that the Chinese government’s deepening repression threatens not just the rights of people in China but, increasingly, Canada’s core interests and values."

"Carney should ensure that engagements with the Chinese government on trade and security are consistent with Canada’s values, which include the promotion of human rights."

Carney's visit to China is the first by a Canadian Prime Minister in more than eight years. Ties between China and Canada have been strained in recent years as Chinese President Xi Jinping has increased repression in China and abroad.

According to the HRW, the Canadian government's statement announcing Carney's visit to China said that it is part of Canada’s efforts to build economic resilience and to diversify from the United States, by "elevating" engagement between the two nations in trade, energy, agriculture, and international security. However, the statement had no mention of human rights.

In its statement, HRW said: "Carney should press the Chinese government to end its repression in Xinjiang and ensure full compliance with international labour rights conventions that China recently ratified, including International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 29 on forced labour and ILO Convention No. 105 on state-imposed forced labour."

HRW noted that the Chinese government's labour rights abuses extend beyond the Uyghur region. "Its laws prohibit independent labour unions, and it detains and imprisons labour activists, cracks down on labour protests, and has shuttered labour monitoring organisations in Hong Kong."

The Chinese government has largely dismantled freedoms of expression, association, and assembly, free and fair elections, fair trial rights, and judicial independence in Hong Kong, where an estimated 300,000 Canadians reside, the HRW said. China has also conducted cross-border abuses, known as transnational repression, to oppress critics of the government living in other nations, including residents and citizens in Canada, it added.