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China on Tuesday expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai in a tit-for-tat response after Ottawa told a Toronto-based Chinese diplomat to leave the country, escalating already strained bilateral relations amid concerns about Chinese influence in Canada.
Canada on Monday expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei after an intelligence report accused him of trying to target the family of Conservative MP Michael Chong, who has been critical of China’s treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority.
“We will not allow any foreign interference,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Monday.
In response to Canada’s “unreasonable actions,” China told Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, consul at the Canadian consulate in Shanghai, to leave China on May 13, according to China’s foreign ministry in a statement.
Diplomatic tensions have risen since the arrest of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018 and Beijing’s subsequent arrest of two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, on spying charges. All three are set to be released in 2021.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) produced a report in 2021 on China’s influence in Canada that included information on potential threats to Chong and his family.
Details of the CSIS report emerged on May 1, when The Globe and Mail reported that China was seeking information about Chong and his family in China in an effort to “make an example” of him and prevent others from taking on the anti-Chinese government. position.
An unnamed security source reportedly told The Globe that Zhao is allegedly working on efforts to target the Chong family in China.
Canada has declared Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei ‘persona non grata’ after days of pressure from opposition parties. The diplomat has five days to leave Canada after being accused of targeting the family of Conservative MP Michael Chong who lives in Hong Kong.
“It didn’t take two years for the government to make this decision,” Chong told reporters after the announcement.
China refused to intervene
China says it has never interfered in Canada’s internal affairs and has no interest in doing so. China’s Consulate General in Toronto said the report about Chong had “no factual basis and no foundation.”
The Globe, citing unnamed national security sources, said Zhao was involved in gathering information about Chong, who has been a vocal critic of the Chinese government and has voted for a House of Commons motion in 2021 calling out Beijing’s treatment of the Uyghur minority. in China genocide.
Chong said he was “deeply disappointed” to learn of the potential threat to his family in Hong Kong from the newspaper, and criticized the Trudeau government for not acting. They have repeatedly called for Zhao to be fired since the Globe’s report.
Trudeau said he was aware of the intelligence report from the newspaper, and on Wednesday blamed CSIS for not informing him at the time.
Trudeau previously said that China tried to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 votes, but that those efforts did not change the results. They have appointed an independent special investigator to investigate the allegations.
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