Ottawa's human rights concerns hypocritical

China announced it was imposing sanctions on two Canadian organizations — the so-called Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and Canada-Tibet Committee — as well as 20 personnel from these organizations on Saturday in accordance with the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law for their secessionist moves related to the country's Xinjiang Uygur and Xizang autonomous regions.

The move comes after the Justin Trudeau government announced sanctions on eight former or current senior Chinese officials involved in what it alleged were "grave human rights violations" in Xinjiang and Xizang.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated on Monday that the sanctions had been imposed in order to safeguard the nation's sovereignty, security, and development interests, as well as to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and organizations.