China expels Canadian diplomat one day after Ottawa orders Chinese consul to leave
CBC
China on Tuesday expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai in a tit-for-tat response after Ottawa told a Toronto-based Chinese diplomat to leave the country, escalating already tense bilateral relations amid concerns about Chinese influence in Canada.
Canada on Monday expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei after an intelligence report accused him of trying to target the family of Conservative MP Michael Chong, who has been critical of China's treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority.
"We will not tolerate any form of foreign interference," Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Monday.
It said Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, the top Canadian diplomat in the business hub of Shanghai, has been asked to leave by May 13 and that China "reserves the right to take further actions in response."
The Canadian Embassy in Beijing had no immediate comment on the expulsion order.
Diplomatic tensions have been running high since the detention of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018 and Beijing's subsequent arrest of two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, on spying charges. All three were freed in 2021.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) authored a report in 2021 about Chinese influence in Canada that included information about potential threats to Chong and his family.
Details of the CSIS report came to light on May 1, when The Globe and Mail reported that China sought information about Chong and his family in China in a likely effort to "make an example" of him and deter others from taking anti-Chinese government position.
An unnamed security source reportedly told The Globe that Zhao was allegedly working on efforts to target Chong's family in China.
"It shouldn't have taken two years for the government to make this decision," Chong told reporters after the announcement.
China has said it has never interfered in Canada's internal affairs and has no interest in doing so. China's Toronto consulate-general said the report on Chong has "no factual basis and is purely baseless."
The Globe, citing an unnamed national security source, said Zhao was involved in gathering information about Chong, who has been a vocal critic of the Chinese government and had voted in favour of a House of Commons motion in 2021 calling Beijing's treatment of the Uyghur minority in China a genocide.
Chong said he was "profoundly disappointed" to find out about the potential threat to his family in Hong Kong from a newspaper, and criticized Trudeau's government for inaction. He repeatedly called for Zhao's expulsion since the Globe report.
Trudeau said he found out about the intelligence report from the newspaper, and on Wednesday blamed CSIS for not passing it on to him at the time.
Shopping local may be the desire, but affordability might decide where shoppers spend their money this Christmas season.
As classes across New Brunswick pause for the holidays, it’s not yet clear which schools are making a dent in chronic absenteeism — a stubborn post-pandemic trend that mostly afflicts the high school cohort, especially in the Anglophone West school district.
CBC Quebec has launched its Make the Season Kind campaign. It's our annual campaign that focuses on food insecurity, while also celebrating kindness, generosity and community spirit around the province.
Premier Wab Kinew says Manitoba will hold a public inquiry as soon as 2026 into the former Progressive Conservative government’s post-election efforts to approve an environmental licence for sand-mining company Sio Silica.
Premier Scott Moe has led the Saskatchewan Party through two straight elections, winning majority governments each time.
Eight weeks after adding a GM BrightDrop van to the fleet of his plumbing and heating business, Marty Salliss has no complaints, only praise.
Nearly half of Alberta’s Grade 6 students failed the provincewide math test in 2024, three years after the province started rolling out its new elementary school curriculum.
Toronto could get new cars on the road whose drivers will never get frustrated by gridlock — because the cars would be driving themselves.
Amidst a cost-of-living crisis, some London-area organizations say they have noticed a decline in donations this holiday season.
Prominent northern leaders have been touting the Arctic economic and security corridor as a "nation-building" project that will bring economic benefits to the two territories it straddles, but others are split on how much good will come out of it.
When the federal government tabled its 2025 budget last month, it included a proposal that tax fraud experts say is long overdue — if also a belated acknowledgement that the Canada Revenue Agency has been repeatedly duped into paying out untold millions in bogus tax refunds to scammers.
Talking with an AI chatbot can successfully convince people to change their votes and could affect the outcome of future elections, according to a new study.
While some are writing wishlists for Santa Claus, a group of Newfoundland and Labrador youth are writing their wishlist for the provincial government.