China expels Canadian consul in Shanghai, one day after Ottawa orders Chinese diplomat out

Chinaon Tuesday expelled a Canadiandiplomatin Shanghai in a tit-for-tat response after Ottawa told a Toronto-based Chinesediplomatto leave the country, escalating already tense bilateral relations amid concerns about Chinese influence in Canada.

Canada on Monday expelled ChinesediplomatZhao Wei after an intelligence report accused him of trying to target the family of Conservative MP Michael Chong, who has been critical ofChina's treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority.

"We will not tolerate any form of foreign interference," Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Monday.

In response to Canada's "unreasonable actions,"Chinatold Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, consul inthe Canadian consulate in Shanghai, to leaveChinaby May 13, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry in astatement.

The Canadian Embassy in Beijing had no immediate comment on the expulsion order.

China reserves the right to respond further, the Foreign Ministry said.

"In response to the Canadian side's unreasonable provocation, China has adopted corresponding retaliatory measures," said Wang Wenbin, spokesperson at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, at a regular news conference. "This was absolutely just and necessary. We urge Canada to immediately stop its unreasonable provocations."

Wang said that if Canada did not heed Beijing's warning and continues to "act recklessly," China will "fight back resolutely and forcefully, and the Canadian side must bear all the consequences."

Diplomatic tensions running high

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 thatChinasought information about Chong and his family inChinain a likely effort to "make an example" of him and deter others from taking anti-Chinese government positions.

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 expulsion was announced.

WATCH | Zhao has 5 days to leave:

Canada expels Chinese diplomat

1 year ago

Duration 3:32

Canada has declared Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei 'persona non grata' after days of pressure from opposition parties. The diplomat has five days to leave Canada after being accused of targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong's family living in Hong Kong.

China denies interference

Chinahas said it has never interferedin Canada's internal affairs and has no interest in doing so.China's Toronto consul 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 governmentandhad voted in favour of aHouse of Commonsmotion 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 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government for inaction. He has 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 CSISfor not passing it on to him at the time.

Trudeau has previously saidChinaattempted to meddle in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, but that the efforts did not change the outcome. He has appointed an independent special investigator to probe the allegations.