OTTAWA (Portal) – China expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai on Tuesday after Ottawa told a Toronto-based Chinese diplomat to leave, escalating strained relations amid concerns about Chinese influence in Canada.
Canada on Monday expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei after an intelligence report accused him of attempting to attack a Canadian lawmaker who criticizes China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority.
“We will not tolerate any foreign interference,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Monday.
In response to Canada’s “unreasonable actions,” China asked Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, consul at the Canadian consulate in Shanghai, to leave China by May 13, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
China reserves the right to respond further, the foreign ministry added.
“In response to the Canadian side’s unreasonable provocation, China has taken appropriate retaliatory measures,” Wang Wenbin, spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said at a regular news conference. “It was absolutely fair and necessary. We urge Canada to stop its unreasonable provocations immediately.”
Wang added that if Canada doesn’t heed Beijing’s warning and continues to “act recklessly,” China will “resolutely and forcefully retaliate, and the Canadian side must face all the consequences.”
Diplomatic tensions have run high since the 2018 detention of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou and the subsequent arrest by Beijing of two Canadians on espionage charges. All three were released in 2021.
Last year, Beijing lifted a three-year import ban on canola, Canada’s largest crop, from trading firms Richardson International and Viterra. The restrictions followed Meng’s arrest, but China cited pest concerns. China is also a major importer of Canadian potash and wheat.
Printed Chinese and Canadian flags are seen in this illustration July 21, 2022. Portal/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The spy agency Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) produced a report on Chinese influence in Canada in 2021, which contained information about potential threats to Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family.
Details of the CSIS report came to light on May 1 when Canada’s Globe and Mail reported that China was looking for information about Chong and his family in China, likely to “set an example” and discourage others from launching an anti -Chinese to take government position.
“It shouldn’t have taken two years for the government to make that decision,” Chong told reporters after the announcement.
China has said 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 on Chong “has no factual basis and is purely baseless.”
The Globe, citing an unnamed national security source, said Zhao had been involved in gathering information about Chong, who sponsored a successful 2021 motion explaining China’s handling of the genocide of the Uyghur Muslim minority.
Chong said he was “deeply disappointed” to learn of the potential threat to his family in Hong Kong from a newspaper and has criticized Trudeau’s government for inaction. Since the Globe report, he has repeatedly called for Zhao’s expulsion.
Trudeau said he learned about the intelligence report from the newspaper and on Wednesday accused the spy agency of not passing it on to him at the time.
The agency has now been ordered to pass information on threats to MPs and their families without delay.
Canadian media have published several reports, citing anonymous intelligence sources, alleging alleged Chinese government-sponsored plans to interfere in Canada’s last two elections. Beijing has denied these allegations.
Trudeau said China tried to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 votes, but the efforts didn’t change the outcome. He has hired an independent special prosecutor to investigate the allegations.
Reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Edited by Rami Ayyub
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