Hong Kong Rights Group Asks Carney to Raise Beijing’s Rights Record During China Visit

Liberal MP Kody Blois (L) watches on as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (2nd L) delivers opening remarks as he meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the start of a meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Oct. 31, 2025. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Democracy group Hong Kong Watch Canada is urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to raise the issue of transnational repression when he meets with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership during his upcoming China visit.

Carney is set to visit Beijing from Jan. 13 to 17, where he will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, and business leaders. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said discussions are expected to revolve around trade, energy, agriculture, and international security, as Carney’s government seeks to renew relations with Beijing.

Carney’s trip will mark the first time a Canadian prime minister has visited China since Justin Trudeau visited in 2017. Trudeau had also been seeking closer relations with China at the time.

Relations between Ottawa and Beijing had been strained since 2018 over “trade disputes, transnational repression, and the retaliatory imprisonment of two Canadian citizens following the arrest of a Huawei executive in Canada” Hong Kong Watch Canada said in a Jan. 10 statement.

The democracy group urged Carney to use his upcoming visit to raise concerns about the Chinese regime’s human rights record, including by pressing Beijing on repression against Hong Kongers in Canada and in Hong Kong, which the group says is home to an estimated 300,000 Canadian citizens.

Landson Chan, advocacy and communications officer of Hong Kong Watch, says the prime minister should use his visit to China as an opportunity to call for the immediate release of Hong Kong democracy activist Jimmy Lai and all Hong Kong political prisoners who have been “detained for exercising their fundamental rights and freedoms.”

“Silence or ambiguity only emboldens repression and undermines Canada’s commitment to human rights,” Chan said in the Jan. 10 statement.

The group said transnational repression by the Chinese regime has become “a pressing issue” in Canada. During last year’s election campaign, the CCP-linked repression campaign was accused of targeting Hong Kong-Canadian Conservative candidate and pro-democracy activist Joe Tay, Hong Kong Watch Canada added.

“Prime Minister Carney should use this opportunity to raise the issue of transnational repression directly with President Xi Jinping, and clearly indicate that Canadian national security and the protection of Canadian citizens takes precedence over promises of increased investment and trade,” the group said in its statement.

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Leo Housakos says increased trade with the Chinese regime does not mean improved diplomatic relations, “as many countries have discovered, including those in the European Union.”

The CCP leverages trade and investment to “threaten other countries not to speak out about human rights abuse, transnational repression, and flagrant sanctions violations,” Housakos, a patron of Hong Kong Watch, said in the group’s Jan. 10 statement.

“At the very least, the Prime Minister must use this opportunity to send a clear message about Canada’s fundamental values and show that he is not willing to turn a blind eye to abuse in the name of trade,” he added.

In its statement, Hong Kong Watch Canada said Carney should also raise concerns with Beijing about the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy and “the destruction of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong under the 2020 National Security Law and 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.” The group said its research previously found that these laws “pose serious risks for Canadian businesses and individuals operating in Hong Kong.”

Additionally, Carney should raise concerns about Hong Kong’s “role in sanctions evasion, including the supply of sanctioned technology and material to the Russian military,” the group said.

“The Canadian government should demonstrate that it will not tolerate the violation of sanctions imposed by Canada and its allies in the name of national security,” Hong Kong Watch Canada said.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (L) shakes hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the start of a meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Oct. 31, 2025. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

‘Strategic Partnership’

Although Carney had identified China as the “biggest security threat” to Canada during the April 2025 election campaign, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand visited China in mid-October 2025 and subsequently said Ottawa is in a “strategic partnership” with Beijing.

Carney, for his part, said he raised the issue of foreign interference with Xi when he met with the Chinese leader at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in South Korea on Oct. 31, 2025. A readout of the meeting between Carney and Xi released by the PMO said the two leaders agreed to renew the relationship between their two countries in a “pragmatic and constructive way.”

Carney also said after the meeting that the relationship was at a “turning point.” He had received the invitation to visit China at that time.

Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig said in a Jan. 7 post on X that although Carney is seeking to “recalibrate relations” between Ottawa and Beijing through his visit to China next week, “the reality is that many of those challenges remain and are not going to go away.”

Kovrig said the risk of increasing trade with China is that the CCP has “a well established track record of using economic relationships, particularly economic dependence, for political leverage.”

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.