(OTTAWA) Canada will not tolerate “any form of foreign interference” on its territory, and to reiterate the message, the government has summoned the Chinese ambassador to Ottawa.
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Mélanie Joly, made the announcement during an appearance before a parliamentary committee on Thursday morning. It was his deputy minister, David Morrison, who was tasked with meeting Ambassador Cong Peiwu.
The summons comes after the Globe and Mail reported that Conservative MP Michael Chong and members of his family in Hong Kong were victims of a threatening campaign orchestrated by a diplomat. Chinese from the Toronto Consulate, Zhao Wei.
The principal concerned urged the Liberals of Justin Trudeau to expel the representative from Beijing. According to him, the Canadian government should have already shown him the door, especially since nothing prevents him from doing so, he insisted.
Minister Joly reiterated Thursday before a House of Commons committee that “all options were on the table” and said that the government was examining what the “consequences” could be to sanction “this behavior”.
The Chinese Embassy in Canada has denied any form of attempted interference.
“Politicians and the media,” according to the Beijing mission’s assertion on its website, “falsely claimed that Chinese consular officials in Canada made so-called threats” against a Canadian MP and his relatives .
“This is pure political manipulation,” one railed in a statement posted on the website.
