Politics
Five years without answers for family of Canadian businessman held in Chinese jail TenX News
Wang Yan vividly recalls the last time she heard her husband’s voice, more than five years ago.
It was Dec. 13, 2019, and Canadian citizen Li Yonghui had gone to a public square in Shijiazhuang, in China’s Hebei province, to exercise as he spoke to his wife in Canada by mobile phone.
“Suddenly, the call ended, like someone was grabbing his phone. And I called other family (in China) and no one knew what happened,” Wang recalled.
Li had been seized by city police, who accused him in a social media post of “allegedly gathering public funds illegally” through his company Qingyidai, a platform for person-to-person lending.
Canadian businessman Li Yonghui, who has been detained in China since 2019, is seen in this undated photo provided by his family.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO Wang Yan
Li has been in detention ever since, without ever being tried or sentenced.
Now, his family is taking the rare step of speaking out publicly to seek a resolution to his case.
Global Affairs Canada says it’s aware of about 100 Canadians incarcerated in China.
However, it’s uncommon for their families to speak out in Canada or to press for decisions on their situations.
Chinese authorities began a crackdown in 2019 on online lenders, but Wang maintains her husband’s innocence in operating Qingyidai, which Chinese media had described as the largest such platform in Hebei.
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“Of course, we believe he’s innocent, but if he did violate some laws or rules, please put him on trial and sentence him,” Wang said in an interview with The Canadian Press in Vancouver where Li’s family lives.
“We have no qualms about that … but it’s been years where nothing has happened.”
Wang said Li has had no visits in the Hebei detention centre from anyone besides his lawyer and staff from the Canadian Embassy.
Li’s daughter, Wandi Li, was 21 when her father was arrested. She regrets that she “basically grew up a little bit in my adult life without him.”
“My dad, he has this habit of not really talking about himself,” Wandi Li said, recalling their last conversation before his arrest. “He just asked me about what’s going on in my life,” she said.
“I’m the youngest of my family, so there’s always this tendency to shield me a little bit from what’s going on.”
In an email response to questions, Global Affairs Canada said it was aware of Li’s detention and was providing consular assistance, but no additional details were being released due to privacy considerations.
The comments by Li’s family come after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said last month that four Canadians were executed by Chinese authorities recently, all with dual citizenship and all accused of drug-related crimes.
Former Chinese detainee Michael Kovrig said by email that he would advise relatives of detainees to “get a good Chinese lawyer.”
He said he would also press the Canadian government to advocate for the detainee as well as contact human rights organizations — but that could antagonizing Chinese authorities.
“Understand there’s a risk that if you press for a decision, the court may give a relatively harsh sentence,” he said. “What they want is repentance and confession, and they may be willing to offer a lighter sentence in return for that.
“It would be up to the lawyer to negotiate that.”
Kovrig and fellow Canadian Michael Spavor were detained by China in 2018 and held for more than 1,000 days, accused of spying in a case the Canadian government said was as a bogus effort to pressure Canada to release Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.
Wang said she was unable to comment on the recent executions in China as she is not familiar with the circumstances surrounding those cases.
But she said their family is increasingly concerned as Li’s detention lingers and health issues have emerged. She said her husband had high blood pressure and his guards were refusing to allow him to see a dentist.
Kovrig said that Wang not being allowed to speak to her husband is consistent with what he had seen of others in Chinese custody.
He said that while conditions may vary between different detention centres, Chinese facilities typically “don’t meet the basic standards of the UN’s Nelson Mandela Rules,” referring to the United Nations’ minimum standards for prisoners’ treatment.
“Detainees are typically confined to a cell with only limited access to an outdoor area to move around,” he said. “Very limited access to books to read. No media. No writing materials. Maybe some television in the evening. Sleep on a hard … bunk in a crowded cell with multiple cellmates.
Detention also likely means constant surveillance, limited bathroom facilities and “zero privacy,” Kovrig said.
Wandi Li said she is holding out hope for her father’s safe return to Canada.
“Our hope is just that the word does get around, and that hopefully because if more people know about it, maybe the government in China will be a little more swayed to make a decision on the case and free my dad,” she said.
Wang Yan said she was aware of possible risks in speaking out, but all she wants is movement and certainty in her husband’s case.
“We don’t have a choice,” she said.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Politics
UK refuses to invite Israeli government officials to London arms fair over the war in Gaza – National TenX News
The U.K. has barred Israeli government officials from attending the country’s biggest arms fair over growing concern about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The decision does not cover representatives of Israeli defense contractors, who will be allowed to attend the DSEI UK exhibition, scheduled for Sept. 9-12 in London. The event was formerly known as Defense and Security Equipment International.
“The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong,” the British government said in a statement. “As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.”
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The decision comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer in July announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to end the crisis in Gaza, agrees to a ceasefire with Hamas and commits to a long-term peace agreement. Britain previously barred sales to Israel of any arms that could be used in the nearly 23-month war in Gaza.
Israel’s Defense Ministry said the decision was based on politics and “serves extremists.”
“These restrictions amount to a deliberate and regrettable act of discrimination against Israel’s representatives,” the ministry said.
The Israeli ministry said it would withdraw from the exhibition and will not establish a national pavilion.
Pro-Palestinian and anti-war groups have announced plans to for protests during DSEI, which will take place at the Excel center in east London.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Politics
Israel soon will halt or slow aid to northern Gaza as military offensive grows – National TenX News
Israel will soon halt or slow humanitarian aid into parts of northern Gaza as it expands its military offensive against Hamas, an official said Saturday, a day after Gaza City was declared a combat zone.
The decision was likely to bring more condemnation of Israel’s government as frustration grows in the country and abroad over dire conditions for both Palestinians and remaining hostages in Gaza after nearly 23 months of war.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, told The Associated Press that Israel will stop airdrops over Gaza City in the coming days and reduce the number of aid trucks arriving in the north as it prepares to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people south.
Israel on Friday ended recently imposed daytime pauses in fighting to allow aid delivery, describing Gaza City as a Hamas stronghold and alleging that a tunnel network remains in use, despite previous large-scale raids. The United Nations and partners have said the pauses, airdrops and other measures fell far short of the 600 trucks of aid needed daily in Gaza.
A ‘massive population movement’ coming
AP video footage showed several large explosions across Gaza overnight. Israel’s military Saturday evening said it had struck a key Hamas member in the area of Gaza City, with no details.
In recent days, Israel’s military has increased strikes on the outskirts of Gaza City, where famine was recently documented and declared by global food security experts.
By Saturday there had been no airdrops for several days across Gaza, a break from almost daily ones. Israel’s army didn’t respond to a request for comment or say how it would provide aid to Palestinians during another major shift in Gaza’s population of over 2 million people.
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“Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care,” Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement.
It’s impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City can be done in a safe and dignified way, she said.
Hundreds of residents have begun leaving Gaza City, piling their remaining possessions onto pickup trucks or donkey carts. Many have been forced to leave their homes more than once.
Killed while seeking food
Israeli gunfire killed four people trying to get aid in central Gaza, according to health officials at Al-Awda Hospital, were the bodies were taken.
An Israeli strike on a bakery in Gaza City’s Nasr neighborhood killed 12 people including six women and three children, the Shifa Hospital director told the AP, and a strike on the Rimal neighborhood killed seven.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said another 10 people died as a result of starvation and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, including three children. It said at least 332 Palestinians have died from malnutrition-related causes during the war, including 124 children.
At least 63,371 Palestinians have died in Gaza during the war, said the ministry, which does not say how many are fighters or civilians but says around half have been women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
“There is no food and even water is not available. When it is available, it is not safe to drink,” said Amer Zayed, as he waited for food from a charity kitchen in Deir al-Balah on Friday.
“The suffering gets worse when there are more displaced people,” he added.
Israelis rally again to demand a ceasefire deal
Israelis waited to hear the identity of the remains of a hostage that Israel on Friday said had been recovered in Gaza. It also said it recovered the remains of hostage Ilan Weiss.
Forty-eight hostages now remain in Gaza of the over 250 seized in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Israel had believed 20 are still alive.
Their loved ones fear the expanding military offensive will put them in even more danger, and they were rallying again Saturday to demand a ceasefire deal to bring everyone home.
“Netanyahu, if another living hostage comes back in a bag, it will not only be the hostages and their families who pay the price. You will bear responsibility for premeditated murder,” Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder, said in Tel Aviv.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
The Trump administration said Friday it was denying and revoking U.S. visas from members of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
That comes ahead of next month’s United Nations General Assembly, where Canada and several other countries have said they intend to officially recognize a Palestinian state.
The U.S. State Department cited the groups’ efforts to secure statehood recognition at the UN, along with their appeals to the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice to investigate alleged Israeli crimes in Gaza, as reasons for the decision by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks,” the department said in a statement.
“The Trump Administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
The statement did not name the officials being denied entry. It was not immediately clear if the list included Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was expected to travel to New York for the UN gathering.
The Palestinians’ ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters at the UN headquarters that they were checking exactly what the U.S. move means “and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly.”
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Representatives assigned to the Palestinian Authority mission at the UN, led by Mansour, will be granted waivers so they can continue their New York-based operations, the U.S. statement said.
Mansour said Abbas still intends to lead the delegation to the high-level meetings and is expected to address the General Assembly — as he has done for many years — and to attend a meeting on the afternoon of Sept. 22 on a two-state solution co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.
U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to New York and address the general assembly on Sept. 23, the White House said on Thursday.
Canada, Britain, Australia and France in recent weeks have announced or signalled their intention to recognize a Palestinian state during the meeting.
The countries have said their recognition is conditional on the Palestinian Authority — which has limited self-rule over parts of the occupied West Bank and has for years been positioning itself as a legitimate government alternative to Hamas in Gaza — undergoing reforms and new elections.
Abbas has signalled he will co-operate with the Western nations’ demands.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization is an internationally recognized coalition that represents Palestinian people in its occupied territories and abroad.
The Trump administration has staunchly backed Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. The U.S. has also refused to condemn expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Canada and other allies have said undermine two-state solution efforts.
Rubio hosted Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar in Washington on Wednesday “to reaffirm our two nations’ close cooperation,” the U.S. secretary said in a post on X.
Saar, asked after the meeting what the plan was for a Palestinian state, said there would not be any.
The Israeli minister on Friday thanked Rubio for holding the PA and PLO “accountable for rewarding terrorism, incitement and efforts to use legal warfare against Israel” in a social media statement.
Officials with the Palestinian Authority reject that they’ve undermined peace prospects.
Under the 1947 UN “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism and foreign policy reasons.
Hamas earlier this month said it had accepted a U.S.-backed proposal on a ceasefire in Gaza that would see the release of some hostages in exchange for talks with Israel that would end the conflict and see the return of all remaining hostages.
But Israel has said it will only accept the full return of all the hostages and has pressed ahead with a plan to occupy Gaza City, which international monitors like the UN have warned could worsen a famine already afflicting the Palestinian territory.
Rubio last week announced sanctions against multiple International Criminal Court judges and prosecutors involved in the court’s investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza and the issuing of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
—With files from Reuters
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
UK refuses to invite Israeli government officials to London arms fair over the war in Gaza – National TenX News
Israel soon will halt or slow aid to northern Gaza as military offensive grows – National TenX News
U.S. scraps Palestinian officials’ visas ahead of UN General Assembly – National TenX News
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