A Twitter/X post published on the official account of the Chinese Embassy in Canada exploits Liberal MP Michael Ma’s questioning the use of forced labour to build Chinese electric vehicles during a Parliamentary hearing, to deny the otherwise well document abuse of ethnic Uyghurs and forced labour. The post is a classic case of authoritarian state denial messaging: critics are cast as “anti-China,” human-rights evidence is reframed as a fabrication, and trade cooperation is presented as the real victim. This Chinese government post matters because it tries to neutralize documented Xinjiang forced-labour concerns at the exact moment Canada is debating Chinese EV access and a Canadian MP’s remarks on the issue.
THE CLAIM:
The Chinese embassy in Canada post claims allegations of “forced labor” in Chinese EV production are a “blatant lie” spread by “a handful of anti-China politicians and media in Canada,” and argues that such allegations are being used to sabotage mutually beneficial Canada-China EV cooperation.
THE FACTS:
- Ottawa’s own position contradicts the embassy’s blanket denial. Global Affairs Canada says there is evidence and reporting of forced labour, mass transfers of Uyghur workers, and enough risk to justify an import ban on goods made wholly or partly by forced labour plus Xinjiang-related due-diligence requirements for Canadian companies.
- UN bodies are treating forced labour in China seriously. Canada said the OHCHR Xinjiang assessment reflected “credible accounts of grave human rights violations,” and UN experts said in January 2026 there is a “persistent pattern” of alleged state-imposed forced labour that may amount to enslavement as a crime against humanity.
- Reuters has reported that Human Rights Watch found Xinjiang aluminum linked to automotive parts sold to global carmakers, and Reuters also reported U.S. authorities were scrutinizing batteries, tires, aluminum, steel and other auto components under forced-labour rules.
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This narrative fits a *standard PRC denial playbook:
- re-cast documented abuses as anti-China fabrication,
- paint critics as ideologically hostile, and
- redefine the issue as unjust interference with mutually beneficial trade.
The strategic objective is to blunt scrutiny of Xinjiang abuses and protect a politically useful Canada-China EV thaw. Chinese embassy messaging has already been framing cooperation as something that should not be “hijacked by ideological biases”; this post applies that frame directly to forced-labour criticism.
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This is not new. Chinese embassy and MFA channels have used near-identical language since at least 2021, calling Xinjiang forced-labour claims “rumors and lies fabricated by anti-China forces.” In 2024, the MFA again said “forced labor” was a lie meant to destabilize Xinjiang and contain China. The current Ottawa post simply localizes that long-running denial script to a Canadian EV-policy dispute.
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