China has declared a Canadian diplomat as “persona non grata” in retaliation for Ottawa’s expulsion of a Chinese consular official, who Canada’s spy company alleged was concerned in a plot to intimidate Conservative MP Michael Chong and his relations in Hong Kong.
On Tuesday, China’s Foreign Ministry posted a press release on its English web site saying China was deploying a “reciprocal countermeasure to Canada’s unscrupulous move,” which it stated it “strongly condemns and firmly opposes.”
The assertion stated Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, consul of the Consulate General of Canada in Shanghai, has been requested to depart earlier than May 13, and that China reserves the fitting to additional react.
On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly issued a press release that Canada had declared Toronto-based diplomat Zhao Wei as “persona non grata.”
Calls for Zhao to be expelled started final week after a report within the Globe and Mail that CSIS had info in 2021 that the Chinese authorities was methods to intimidate Chong and his relations in Hong Kong. The federal authorities has confirmed that report.
Following Joly’s announcement, China’s embassy in Ottawa issued a press release that accused Canada of breaching worldwide legislation and appearing primarily based on anti-Chinese sentiment.
It stated the transfer “sabotaged” relations between China and Canada, in accordance with an official English translation supplied by the embassy, and promised unspecified retaliatory measures.
