Canada and China started a diplomatic row Monday after Ottawa has declared a Chinese diplomat persona non grata, a move that was countered by the expulsion of Canada’s consul in Shanghai.
A diplomatic row erupted on Monday between Canada and China after Ottawa expelled a Chinese diplomat and Beirjing retaliated by expelling the Canadian Consul in Shaghai
Zhao Wei, an official at the Chinese consulate in Toronto, has been declared persona non grata and asked to leave Canada within five days after being accused of attempting to intimidate a Canadian lawmaker who is critical of Beijing.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly stressed that Canada would “not tolerate any form of foreign interference in our internal affairs.”
China on Tuesday said that Canada’s accusations of Chinese interference in Canada’s internal affairs is “completely nonsense” and is “slander against China and political manipulation based on ideology”.
It also declared that it was expelling Canada’s consul in Shanghai in retaliation.
The move aggravated already strained Sino-Canadian relations.
“The Chinese side will take resolute countermeasures and all consequences arising therefrom shall be borne by the Canadian side,” a statement from the Chinese embassy in Canada said, calling on Ottawa to “step back from the brink.”
The Chinese diplomat’s expulsion followed an outcry led by parliamentarian Michael Chong over allegations that China’s intelligence agency had planned to target him and his relatives in Hong Kong with sanctions for voting in February 2021 for a motion condemning Beijing’s conduct in the Xinjiang region as genocide.
Relations between Beijing and Ottawa have been tense since Canada’s arrest in 2018 of a top Huawei executive and the detention of two Canadian nationals in China in apparent retaliation.
All three have been released, but Beijing has continued to blast Ottawa for aligning with Washington’s China policy.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has faced growing pressure to take a hard line with Beijing following revelations in recent months that it sought to sway Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections.
Roromme Chantal, a China expert at the School of Advanced Public Studies in Moncton, told AFP that Canada should expect retaliation to take the form of “the expulsion of a Canadian diplomat if not several diplomats.”
Beijing, he said, “could also take economic reprisals, as a way of sending a message to other countries that are talking about interference.”
With AFP
