Ottawa: Canada has summoned China’s ambassador Kang Peiwu over allegations of political interference and intimidation. This information has been given in media reports. According to the report, Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie revealed the news on Thursday during a heated debate with opposition MP Michael Chong in Ottawa. Chong is now at the center of allegations against China. Chong has reportedly been targeted for harassment by Beijing and has fiercely criticized the sluggish response from the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Jolie also told lawmakers during a session of the Foreign Affairs Committee that Canada is considering retaliating against China and that all options are available, including diplomatic expulsions. However, he acknowledged that the Canadian government is also looking into the possibility of retaliation by China which denies interference in Canadian political affairs. According to a Canadian intelligence report that first appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper, Chong, a Canadian Conservative politician, was targeted by the Chinese government after a 2021 proposal he tabled in parliament calls for ethnic Uighurs to be banned by Beijing. There was a proposal to declare the treatment of minority populations as genocide.
According to the report, China has denied the allegations and has banned Chong in response. The report said Beijing had asked for information on Chong’s possible relatives in Hong Kong to make an example of the lawmaker so that no one else could turn against China. In a statement, China’s foreign embassy said the ambassador raised a strong protest during a meeting with Canadian officials about the threat of expelling Chinese diplomats. The embassy termed the allegations as a self-directed political farce, saying China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Trudeau has said that he came to know about the issue only after the Globe and Mail reported.
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