Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has expelled a Chinese envoy from Canada, a move that could prompt economic or diplomatic backlash from President Xi Jinping.
The envoy, Zhao Wei, was named in a Globe and Mail report last week that cited a leaked Canadian intelligence document. The newspaper reported the document, dated July 2021, revealed the diplomat was looking into penalizing Conservative lawmaker Michael Chong over his hard-line positions on the Beijing government, punishment that could entail sanctioning Chong’s relatives in Hong Kong.
Zhao has been ordered to leave the country, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Monday in a statement.
“I have been clear: we will not tolerate any form of foreign interference in our internal affairs. Diplomats in Canada have been warned that if they engage in this type of behavior, they will be sent home,” she said. “This decision has been taken after careful consideration of all factors at play.”
The May 1 story kicked off a firestorm over why Chong hadn’t been informed that China was targeting his family, and why the diplomat was still allowed to work at the consulate in Toronto.
Trudeau told reporters he was never briefed on the matter, as the country’s intelligence agency determined it wasn’t serious enough to require notifying him. However, conflicting information emerged that at least one of Trudeau’s security advisers had been informed, even if the prime minister himself wasn’t.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Trudeau said expelling the diplomat would be a “big step,” and Joly was examining the potential consequences.
On Thursday, Chong confronted Joly on why the diplomat hadn’t been ejected from Canada.
“You have given accreditation to a diplomat here who is using his diplomatic immunity to target not just me and my family, but other members of Parliament,” Chong said at a committee meeting where Joly was testifying. “So why do you, minister, continue to allow this diplomat to be accredited in this country, on Canadian soil?”
Joly responded that she was assessing the potential blowback from a diplomatic expulsion and specifically mentioned the “Two Michaels” crisis, when China detained two Canadians for nearly three years after Canada arrested a Huawei Technologies Co. executive on a US extradition order.
On Thursday night, China’s embassy in Canada sternly warned that any diplomatic moves by Joly would be matched in lockstep by Beijing.
“China strongly urges the Canadian side to immediately stop this self-directed political farce, not go further down the wrong and dangerous path,” a spokesperson for Ambassador Cong Peiwu said in statement posted to the embassy’s website. “Should the Canadian side continue to make provocations, China will play along every step of the way until the very end.”
The Chong controversy is just the latest in a series of media reports this year that have alleged China has interfered in Canadian affairs and that Trudeau hasn’t responded strongly enough.
Multiple stories have alleged Trudeau received intelligence briefings on Chinese attempts to meddle in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections, which his Liberal Party won. Trudeau has resisted calls for a public inquiry into the matter and has instead appointed a “special rapporteur” to examine the evidence and decide if an inquiry is warranted.