In response to revelations that a Conservative MP and his family in Hong Kong were threatened by China, Ottawa summoned the Chinese ambassador Thursday to lecture him. And the Canadian government is studying “all options”, including that of expelling the Chinese diplomat who allegedly orchestrated the whole thing.
“I take all of this extremely seriously,” insisted Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, facing Conservative MP Michael Chong, who would be the target of these efforts from Beijing.
Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison summoned Ambassador Cong Peiwu on Thursday, Minister Joly told the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee. The ambassador has already been lectured on more than one occasion by Ottawa, notably in order to previously discuss foreign electoral interference, “Chinese police stations” on Canadian soil, as well as the mysterious Chinese balloon which had flown over the territory Canadian this winter.
The Globe and Mail revealed on Monday that Conservative MP Michael Chong and members of his family in Hong Kong have been the target of “specific gestures” and “possible sanctions” from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), unhappy that Mr. Chong introduced a motion accusing China of perpetrating genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims.
A targeted diplomat
Visibly emotional, Mr. Chong bombarded the minister with questions, reproaching her for not having expelled the diplomat Zhao Wei, stationed at the Toronto consulate and who would have been involved in this campaign against him, according to secret documents cited by THE Globe and Mail.
“We are in the process of assessing the consequences we would face in the event of the expulsion of diplomats,” said Minister Joly.
Canada’s economic, consular and diplomatic interests would be affected, she said. The detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in China for nearly three years, in retaliation, showed “that obviously China will take action,” argued Ms.me Pretty. “It is a question of your case, but also of the interests of the country”, she added, over a muscular exchange with MP Chong.
The latter rejected the explanations of the minister and denounced the fact that no diplomat of the Chinese regime has been expelled since the allegations of foreign interference by China made the headlines.
“This diplomat has more rights and more immunity than the Canadians around this table, allowing him to walk around and carry out threats and activities of foreign interference,” Chong quipped.
However, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations stipulates, he recalled, that a State “may at any time and without having to justify its decision” declare a diplomat persona non grata. “It is inexplicable that this diplomat was not asked to leave the country,” lamented Michael Chong, getting angry with the minister during their exchange of just over five minutes.
Minister Joly insisted that her government would make a decision “in the best interest of Canadians and our democracy”, assuring the MP that “all options are on the table”.
Like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the minister said she learned that Mr. Chong was thus targeted by the Chinese communist regime by reading the newspapers Monday morning.
Mr. Trudeau announced on Wednesday that he had made it clear to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that the agency must in the future inform the government if a member of parliament, or his family, are thus targeted. And this, even if CSIS considers that this information is not serious enough to merit an intervention.