Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi lectures Canadian reporter on human rights question. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s sudden outburst against a Canadian reporter’s human rights question during a rare visit to Canada appears to be staged, says a Hong Kong-based journalist.
On Tuesday, Vice News reported about Wang's rant during his landmark visit to the Western country where a Canadian reporter asked Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion about China's human rights record.
The Chinese government had repeatedly called for other countries to back off and refrain from interfering with the country's internal affairs, but it seemed like Wang had purposely interfered with the question.
However, this incident appears to be staged, according to Hong Kong-based writer Frank Ching via EJ Insight.
Wang's Rant
During a joint press conference with Dion, Wang snapped after Amanda Connolly, a reporter from iPolitics, stated her question for the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister.
According to Vice News, Wang appeared to be irritated as he went on with his rant saying that the reporter should not "ask questions in such an irresponsible manner."
Looking offended, he also said that he is open to "goodwill suggestions" but "reject groundless or unwarranted accusations."
"Your question is full of prejudice against China and arrogance. I don't know where that comes from. This is totally unacceptable," he fired back at the reporter.
What It Implies
According to a CBC News analysis, China's "microphone diplomacy" has a tendency to misfire as Wang's lecture on proper interview questions was defended by China's ambassador to Canada Luo Zhaohui.
"It is only natural that the two countries may have different views on human rights," he wrote in an article published on Globe and Mail, adding that "China faces such differences squarely and never sidesteps them."
The CBC analysis also noted Luo's mistake in saying that the Canadian reporter pointed fingers at China, considering that the question was directed at the Canadian minister and that it was the Chinese foreign minister who actually pointed his finger.
Furthermore, Ching noted that the question should not have come as a surprise to Wang considering that they get asked about it wherever they go.
"Rather than being a spontaneous display of anger, the performance was clearly staged," he wrote, adding that the display of arrogance from the Chinese official is frightening. "Chinese officials are asked about human rights everywhere they go, and so the question itself should not have been surprising."
Ching added: "If that is the way China behaves when it is the world's second-biggest economy, what is one to expect when it becomes no. 1? Clearly, Wang--and the Communist Party--is sensitive to questions about human rights."
