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Canadian diplomats were denied entry to the trial of Canadian-Chinese tycoon Xiao Jianhua in China, according to a statement issued by Ottawa’s embassy in Beijing on Tuesday, a day after the businessman stood trial.
Xiao, one of China’s wealthiest persons at the time of his alleged kidnapping from a Hong Kong hotel in 2017, was said to have tight ties to the ruling Communist Party’s upper echelons.
Since his disappearance, nothing more was known about the tycoon, who is a Canadian citizen, until the embassy revealed Monday that he was facing prosecution.
“Canada requested multiple times to attend the trial sessions. Chinese authorities refused to allow us to attend “According to a statement issued by the embassy on Tuesday.
Chinese officials have remained mute on the matter, which has been linked to President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption push since he took office.
When asked about the trial on Monday, a foreign ministry spokeswoman stated they were “unaware of the issue.”
Xiao’s alleged kidnapping occurred at a period when mainland Chinese agents were not permitted to operate in Hong Kong, and it generated concern in the city about individuals being forcibly kidnapped.
These concerns were at the heart of the large pro-democracy protests that shook Hong Kong in 2019, sparked by a government bill that would have permitted extraditions to mainland China’s opaque, Communist Party-controlled legal system.
Xiao’s abduction was allegedly linked to the suspected kidnapping and detention of five persons working at a bookstore that promoted obscene titles regarding China’s leaders.
The booksellers later confessed to several offences on mainland Chinese television.
In 2020, China enacted a national security law on Hong Kong in reaction to the 2019 demonstrations.
This law permitted its security agents to operate in the city and shattered the legal barrier that existed between mainland and Hong Kong courts.
