China protests against Canada’s possible expulsion of diplomat

OTTAWA – Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu on Thursday denied that a Beijing official targeted a Canadian lawmaker and his family for his anti-China stance and denounced Ottawa’s statement that it was considering expelling a Chinese diplomat.

Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly earlier said she was “assessing different options, including the expulsion of diplomats”.

Conservative MP Michael Chong in 2021 sponsored

a successful motion that declared China’s treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority genocide.

Canada’s Globe And Mail newspaper, citing a Canadian intelligence report from 2021, on Monday said China sought information about Mr Chong and his family in China in a likely effort to “make an example” of him and “deter others from taking anti-PRC position”, using an acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

Mr Cong, who was summoned by a senior Canadian Foreign Ministry official on Thursday, said he “protested strongly” against the “threat” to expel a Chinese diplomat because of “rumours of the so-called ‘China Interference’”.

“China strongly urges the Canadian side to immediately stop this self-directed political farce,” Mr Cong said in a statement posted on the embassy’s website, adding that Canada should “not go further down the wrong and dangerous path”.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he found out about the intelligence report from the newspaper, and on Wednesday blamed the spy agency for not passing it on to him at the time.

But Mr Chong on Thursday said he had been told by Mr Trudeau’s national security adviser that the intelligence had been circulated to the Privy Council Office, which supports the prime minister and his Cabinet, in 2021.

Late on Wednesday, China sharply criticised

Mr Trudeau’s comment last week linking Chinese-produced lithium to slave labour

and warned that Canada could face consequences if it continues “denigrating maliciously” the human rights situation in China. REUTERS