After Ottawa dismissed a Toronto-based Chinese diplomat, China expelled a Shanghai-based Canadian diplomat on Tuesday, aggravating already strained bilateral ties over fears about Chinese influence in Canada.

After an intelligence assessment accused Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei of targeting a Canadian politician critical of China’s Uyghur Muslim minority, Canada expelled him on Monday.

“We will not tolerate any form of foreign interference,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly stated Monday.

In reaction to Canada’s “unreasonable actions,” China ordered Canadian consul Jennifer Lynn Lalonde to leave China by May 13.

The foreign ministry said China may reply again.

Since Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou’s 2018 incarceration and Beijing arrested of two Canadians on spying accusations, diplomatic tensions have been high. 2021 released all three.

Last year, Beijing eased a three-year ban on Richardson International and Viterra’s canola shipments, Canada’s biggest crop. China cited bugs for the restrictions after Meng’s detention. China imports Canadian potash and wheat.

Spy agency In 2021, CSIS published a study on Chinese influence in Canada that included potential dangers to Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family.

On May 1, Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper said China requested information about Chong and his family in China to “make an example” of him and dissuade others from embracing anti-Chinese government positions.

“It shouldn’t have taken two years for the government to make this decision,” Chong told reporters following the news.

China denies interfering in Canada’s domestic affairs. China’s Toronto consulate-general called Chong’s report “no factual basis and purely baseless.”

An unidentified national security source told the Globe that Zhao was gathering material about Chong, who in 2021 backed a successful resolution labeling China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority genocide.

Chong was “profoundly disappointed” to learn of the danger to his family in Hong Kong via a newspaper and lambasted Trudeau’s administration for inactivity. He’s demanded Zhao’s removal since the Globe story.

On Wednesday, Trudeau accused the spy agency of not passing on the intelligence information he learned via the media.

The agency must now report threats to parliamentarians and their families.

Several Canadian media outlets have released anonymous intelligence assessments suggesting Chinese government interference in Canada’s previous two elections. Beijing denies them.

Trudeau said that China tried to influence the 2019 and 2021 elections but failed. An independent special investigator will investigate the accusations.