On Monday, Canada expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei after an intelligence report accused him of trying to target a Canadian lawmaker who criticized China’s treatment of the Uyghur minority.
“We will not tolerate any form of foreign interference,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie said Monday.
China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Beijing had asked Canadian diplomat Jennifer Lynn Lalonde to leave the country by May 13 in response to Canada’s “unreasonable actions”.
She added that Beijing reserves the right to respond with other measures.
Diplomatic tension between the two countries has escalated since the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, in 2018, and the arrest by Beijing of two Canadians accused of espionage. All three countries released them in 2021.
Canadian Security Intelligence prepared a report on Chinese influence in Canada in 2021. The report included information on threats against Conservative MP Michael Chung and his family.
China says it has never interfered in Canada’s internal affairs and has no interest. The Chinese Consulate General in Toronto said the Canadian intelligence report was “completely unsubstantiated and groundless”.
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