China dismisses Parliament genocide vote as ‘lies of the century’

"For those MPs voting in the House of Commons, most of them I'm afraid have never been to Xinjiang or not even to China in the past years," said Ambassador Cong Peiwu. "How can they judge the situation on the ground? They simply, some of them, are doing things with political intentions and trying to make political gains."

Cong described the allegations as "lies spread by a very few certain people due to anti-China intentions."

"For China, we are firmly opposed to any activity involving this kind of interference in our domestic affairs and undermining our sovereignty and security, declared Cong. "And we will take resolute measures to counter that, to safeguard our national interests."

"The so-called genocide, those kinds of claims, I'd like to point out once again are just lies of the century," he said.

Parliament voted last month to recognize the actions of the Chinese persecution Uyghurs as a genocide. While no MPs voted against the motion, the entirety of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet abstained from voting on the motion. It is unclear why they chose to do so.

The motion also calls for the 2022 Olympic games to be relocated away from China.

Despite refusing to vote on the matter, Trudeau has said that there are "very credible reports of human rights abuses in Xinjiang." The Prime Minister has failed to use the term "genocide" to describe the Chinese government's behaviour. Nevertheless, when asked about Ambassador Cong's recent statement, Trudeau said that "[the] Parliament of Canada was very clear."

The Chinese government has interned millions of Uyghurs in concentration camps across the northwestern region of Xinjiang, which Uyghurs refer to as East Turkestan. First-hand accounts of the camps describe the use of torture, forced sterilization, sexual abuse, forced labour, and other human rights atrocities against inmates.

A subcommittee report on the matter described the mass detention of Uyghurs as "the largest mass detention of a minority community since the Holocaust."

Despite Trudeau's hesitancy to directly take on the Chinese government himself, the communist nation has faced sweeping rebukes from the Liberal Party.

"Canada has had to deal with the government of China as one would with terrorists or Mafia thugs," urged Liberal MP John McKay. "No trade deal, convention, memorandum of understanding or contract is worth the paper it’s written on with this government."