Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has revealed that her country decided to summon Chinese ambassador Cong Peiwu, following allegations that Beijing threatened an opposition party legislator and his family.
Joly who is facing pressure to address allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian politics, said that she had instructed her deputy to summon Cong to ‘convey to him directly that we will not tolerate any form of foreign interference’.
She also explained ‘that all options, including expulsion of diplomats, remain on the table as we consider the consequences for this behaviour’.
‘What has happened is completely unacceptable. I cannot imagine the shock and concern of learning that your loved ones have been targeted in this way,’ Joly said during a parliamentary committee hearing on Thursday.
The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing a classified report from Canada’s spy agency, reported on Monday that China had sought information about any relatives of a Canadian legislator “who may be located” within its borders, in a likely effort to “make an example of this MP and deter others” from taking anti-China positions.
Read Also: At Least 8 Found Dead Crossing Into US From Canada
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) report did not name the lawmaker, but the Globe said a national security source identified the politician as Michael Chong, a member of the opposition Conservative Party of Canada.
China sanctioned Chong in 2021 after he spearheaded a Canadian parliamentary motion condemning Beijing’s treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority as a ‘genocide’.
The United Nations and other observers have accused China of committing ‘crimes against humanity’ against the Uighurs in the country’s western province of Xinjiang, an allegation rejected by the Chinese government.
Dismissing the allegations in Canada this week, a spokesperson for China’s consulate-general in Toronto expressed ‘strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition’ to the claims and urged the media and politicians to “stop spreading rumours and smearing’.
The spokesperson said Canadian media and politicians were ‘intentionally damaging the reputation and image’ of the consulate and “maliciously interfering with normal communication and cooperation between both parties’.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning also said during a news conference on Thursday that “China is opposed to any interference in a country’s internal affairs”.
‘We never interfere in Canada’s internal affairs and have no interest whatsoever in doing so. At the same time, we are resolute in defending our sovereignty, security and development interests and opposing actions that interfere in China’s internal affairs and harm China’s interests,’ Mao said.
The China-Canada relationship has been frosty for several years, especially after Canadian authorities detained Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018 on a US arrest warrant. China then arrested two Canadians on spying charges.