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A new diplomatic spat between the two countries was sparked by Ottawa’s announcement on Monday of the expulsion of a Chinese diplomat who was allegedly trying to intimidate a Canadian lawmaker who was critical of Beijing.
Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement designating the diplomat as “persona non grata” that “We will not tolerate any form of foreign interference in our internal affairs.”
She added that foreign ambassadors in Canada “have been warned that if they engage in this type of behaviour, they will be sent home” since safeguarding our democracy is of the utmost importance.
The action worsened already tense Sino-Canadian relations, with China “strongly condemning” the choice and threatening consequences because it was based on “baseless” charges.
China claimed that it has lodged an official protest against Canada for allegedly violating international law and diplomatic protocol in a statement published on the website of its embassy in Ottawa. Canada was allegedly accused of “deliberately undermining relations” with China, which is Canada’s second-largest trading partner.
Zhao Wei, the officer at the Chinese embassy in Toronto at the centre of this scandal, has been instructed to leave Canada within five days, according a source with knowledge of the situation.
He was expelled as a result of a protest led by parliamentarian Michael Chong over claims made by local media that China’s intelligence agency intended to sanction Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong for voting in February 2021 in favour of a resolution denouncing Beijing’s actions in the Xinjiang region as genocide.
It was “almost certainly meant to make an example of this MP and deter others from taking anti-PRC positions,” according to a Canadian Security Intelligence Service dossier quoted in the Globe and Mail newspaper last week.
‘Gamble’
Since it was revealed in recent months that Beijing attempted to influence Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections, Justin Trudeau, the country’s prime minister, has come under increasing pressure to adopt a tough stance with Beijing.
His detractors have continued to accuse him of being inactive in the face of foreign interference by citing the most recent claims.
Professor of politics at the University of Ottawa Genevieve Tellier said, “There was a real political risk for the Trudeau government in this affair, which is taking a gamble by showing its muscles in this way.”
Since Canada’s arrest of a senior Huawei executive in 2018 and the detention of two Canadian citizens in China in what appears to be reprisal, relations between Beijing and Ottawa have been tight.
Although all three have been freed, Beijing has continued to criticise Ottawa for supporting Washington’s China policy, and Canadian officials have frequently charged China with interfering with their internal affairs.
Beijing criticised what it called “groundless slander and defamation” by Canada on Friday, after China’s ambassador was called to appear last week in response to the most recent charges of interference.
The crisis, said the Chinese foreign ministry, had been “hyped up by some Canadian politicians and media.”
We have known for years that the PRC targets Canadians and their families with the help of its accredited diplomats stationed here in Canada, the official claimed.
He claimed that harassment of diaspora communities and other forms of foreign intervention have made Canada into “a playground.”
China specialist Roromme Chantal from the School of Advanced Public Studies in Moncton told AFP that Canada should anticipate punishment in the form of “the expulsion of a Canadian diplomat, if not several diplomats.”
Beijing “could also take economic reprisals, as a way to send a message to other countries that are talking about interference,” the official added.
