China opposes Canadian diplomat removal. On Thursday, Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu denied a Beijing official targeting a Canadian politician and his family for his anti-China attitude and blasted Ottawa’s declaration that it was considering removing a Chinese ambassador.
Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said she was “assessing different options including the expulsion of diplomats.”
In 2021, Conservative MP Michael Chong sponsored a successful resolution calling China’s Uyghur Muslim minority genocide.
On Monday, Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper cited a 2021 Canadian intelligence assessment that stated China requested information on Chong and his family in China to “make an example” of him and “deter others from taking anti-PRC position,” using an acronym for China’s official name.
On Thursday, a top Canadian foreign ministry official summoned Cong, who “protested strongly” against the “threat” to expel a Chinese diplomat over “rumors of the so-called ‘China Interference’.”
“China strongly urges the Canadian side to immediately stop this self-directed political farce,” Cong stated on the embassy’s website. “Not go further down the wrong and dangerous path.”
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the spy agency of not informing him about the intelligence assessment he learned via the media.
On Thursday, Chong claimed Trudeau’s national security advisor informed him the material was sent to the Privy Council Office, which supports the prime minister and Cabinet, in 2021.
China strongly denounced Trudeau’s statement last week comparing Chinese-produced lithium to slave labor and warned Canada it might face the consequences if it “denigrating maliciously” China’s human rights status.
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