China said on Thursday it objected to any country accepting Muslim Chinese terror suspects held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, a day after Canada denied it planned to take three, reported Reuters.
China has said it wants 17 Uighur terror suspects returned when the prison is closed, as ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said she hoped all sides would respect international law and principles.
"As we have stated before, we strongly oppose any country accepting these people," Jiang told a news conference.
Canada on Wednesday denied a newspaper report that it was close to accepting three Uighurs who have been cleared for release.
A total of 17 Uighurs are in the prison. Although no longer considered "enemy combatants," they are still at Guantanamo because the United States has been unable to find a country willing to take them.
The U.S. government has said it cannot return the Uighurs to China because they would face persecution there. In 2006, they allowed five Chinese Muslims released from Guantanamo to go to Albania.
Many Muslim Uighurs, who are from Xinjiang in far western China, seek greater autonomy for the region and some want independence. Beijing has waged a relentless campaign against what it calls their violent separatist activities.