Beijing and Ottawa expel diplomats: tensions ahead of G7 meeting
China today ordered the ouster of the Canadian consul in Shanghai in response to the expulsion of its own consul in Toronto. The Chinese official is accused of intimidation against an opposition MP who criticised the Uyghur crackdown. This is the latest episode in a series in the deterioration of Sino-Canadian relations.
Ottawa (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Two weeks before the G7 summit comes a double expulsion of diplomats between China and Canada, a further sign of the deterioration of diplomatic relations between the two countries: today Beijing ordered the expulsion of the Canadian consul in Shanghai in response to Ottawa's ouster of a Chinese diplomat accused of intimidating a parliamentarian who criticised Beijing's repressive actions.
Specifically, yesterday the Canadian Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly, declared the consular official in Toronto, Zhao Wei, persona non grata, ordering him to leave the country within five days. According to an investigation by Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper, Zhao allegedly gathered information in an attempt to threaten opposition Conservative MP Michael Chong for sponsoring a motion in 2021 in which repressions against the Turkic-Muslim Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region were described as 'genocide'.
Citing a report by the Canadian spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which was published in 2021 but came to light on 1 May, the Globe and Mail wrote that the intimidation against Chong and his Hong Kong-based relatives 'is almost certainly intended to make an example of this MP and dissuade others from taking positions against the People's Republic of China'.
The Chinese consulate in Toronto stated that the report on Chong 'is totally without foundation' and promised a response. So it was: China today ordered the removal of Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, a diplomat at the Shanghai consulate by 13 May. 'China reserves the right to react further,' Beijing also said in a note.
In March, the Globe and Mail had written about likely Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian elections, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the same month appointed an independent special rapporteur to investigate the allegations.
This is actually a further deterioration of diplomatic relations between the two countries, already strained after the imprisonment of Huawei executive Sabrina Meng Wanshou in 2018, which was followed by Beijing's arrest of two Canadians accused of espionage. Although all three were freed in 2021, only last year Beijing lifted a ban, imposed after Meng's arrest, on canola imports from some Canadian companies.
The news came out against a backdrop of general uncertainty just days before the G7, which will be held between 19 and 21 May in Hiroshima, Japan. In recent weeks, Europe and the US were considering possible Chinese mediation in the conflict in Ukraine.
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16/12/2020 16:00
