China expels Canadian diplomat in tit-for-tat move amid alleged threats to MP – National

China has declared a Canadian diplomat as “persona non grata” in retaliation for Ottawa’s expulsion of a Chinese language consular official, who Canada’s spy company alleged was concerned in a plot to intimidate Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family in Hong Kong.

On Tuesday, China’s Overseas Ministry posted an announcement on its English web site saying China was deploying a “reciprocal countermeasure to Canada’s unscrupulous transfer,” which it stated it “strongly condemns and firmly opposes.”

The assertion stated Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, consul of the Consulate Normal of Canada in Shanghai, has been requested to depart earlier than Might 13, and that China reserves the precise to additional react.

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Chinese language diplomat ousted from Canada after debate in query interval

On Monday, Overseas Affairs Minister Melanie Joly issued an announcement that Canada had declared Toronto-based diplomat Zhao Wei as “persona non grata.”

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Requires Zhao to be expelled started final week after a report within the Globe and Mail that CSIS had info in 2021 that the Chinese language authorities was taking a look at methods to intimidate Chong and his family in Hong Kong. The federal authorities has confirmed that report.

Following Joly’s announcement, China’s embassy in Ottawa issued an announcement that accused Canada of breaching worldwide regulation and performing based mostly on anti-Chinese language sentiment.

It stated the transfer “sabotaged” relations between China and Canada, based on an official English translation offered by the embassy, and promised unspecified retaliatory measures.