Diplomatic dispute between Canada and China
Photo: gettyimages
Chinese officials were expelled from Ottawa. Beijing responds ‘in kind.” Canada has expelled a Chinese diplomat accused of trying to intimidate a Canadian MP who has been critical of Beijing. Beijing will soon expel the Canadian consul in retaliation. Foreign Minister Melanie Joly issued a statement on Monday saying Zhao Wei had been declared “persona non grata” in response to a series of reports published in the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, according to which Zhou sought information on Conservative Party MP Michael Chong, who sponsored a motion to declare China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority genocidal. The reports said the intelligence agency had uncovered information in Canada that China planned to target Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong with sanctions and possible threats.
Foreign Minister Joly said Ottawa “will not tolerate any form of foreign interference.” She said foreign diplomats working in Canada have been warned “that if they engage in this type of behavior, they will be sent home”. The Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing announced Tuesday morning that it had declared Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, the consul of the Canadian consulate in Shanghai, “persona non grata” and ordered her to leave China by May 13. Lalonde’s expulsion came hours after China’s embassy in Ottawa said China would take “decisive countermeasures” in response to Zhou’s expulsion. The allegations against Zhou came amid a series of reports by The Globe and Mail and other media outlets about China’s alleged attempts to influence the 2018 and 2021 Canadian general elections. Both reports were based on information collected by Canada’s intelligence agency, according to the BBC. Ties between Canada and China plunged into a deep freeze in 2018 after China detained two Canadians—former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor—in apparent retaliation for Canada’s detention of Meng, the Huawei executive who was wanted in the United States on fraud charges. Meng returned to China in 2021 after she reached a deal with U.S. prosecutors. She was under house arrest in one of her two mansions in Vancouver. Hours later, the “two Michaels,” as they were known in Canada, were on their way home, too. Kovrig and Spavor had been held in separate Chinese prisons on vague charges of espionage and stealing state secrets, allegations for which China never provided evidence. They were tried in secret trials and permitted only a handful of calls with their families during their years-long detentions.
By Cora Sulleyman
