By Noé Chartier
May 8, 2023 Updated: May 8, 2023
Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei, who has reportedly been involved in targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong and threatening his family members in Hong Kong, has been declared persona non grata by Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly.
“I have been clear: we will not tolerate any
form of foreign interference in our internal affairs. Diplomats in Canada have
been warned that if they engage in this type of behaviour, they will be sent
home,” Joly said in a statement on May 8.
Joly said the decision has been made after a “careful
consideration of all factors at play.”
The minister told the House of Commons foreign affairs committee on May 4
that her department was assessing the consequences of taking such as step,
particularly in light of previous actions by Beijing in the case of Huawei
executive Meng Wanzhou.
In retaliation for Canada honouring its legal
obligation to the United States by keeping Meng, who was being accused of
fraud, under house arrest, the Chinese regime arbitrarily detained Canadian
citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor for over 1,000 days, from December
2018 to September 2021.
Joly also told the committee on May 4 that
Global Affairs Canada summoned Chinese ambassador Cong Peiwu over MP Chong’s
case.
In a statement issued in response to Joly’s decision on May 8, the
Chinese Embassy insinuated that it would retaliate against “provocations” and
that Beijing would “play along every step of the way until the very end.”
The Globe and Mail reported on May 1 that, according to a national security source, a
Chinese spy service and Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei had targeted MP Chong in 2021
for his advocacy for human rights in China.
Zhao, a consular officer in Toronto, had
been described by a national security source as a “suspected intelligence
actor” in an earlier Globe report published on Feb. 13.
Analysis conducted by The Epoch Times shows Zhao’s active
participation in functions held by local organizations in Canada that share
Beijing’s stances. Also in attendance were elected officials implicated in
foreign interference scandals by national security leaks in the media.
Chong and his party have pressed the Liberal
government in recent days to expel Zhao, and passed a motion in the House of
Commons to that effect on May 8, with support from the NDP and the Bloc
Québécois.
CSIS Assessment
Along with the government
assessing the consequences of expelling Zhao, the federal government spent last
week attempting to determine who knew what and when regarding the Chinese
regime’s threats to MPs.
The Globe’s May 1 article cited
a 2021 assessment produced by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)
on Chinese interference in Canada. It said that one of the People’s Republic of
China’s spy services, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), had “taken specific
actions to target Canadian MPs.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
initially said he was never briefed on this information, that he had first
learned about the issue from the media on May 1, and that the assessment had
never left CSIS.
This was later contradicted
when it was learned that the assessment had circulated outside CSIS, including
at the Privy Council Office (PCO), which is the prime minister’s department.
National Security and
Intelligence Advisor Jody Thomas told MP Chong that her office, which sits within the PCO, had
received the report.
Thomas was not in the role at
the time, but one of her predecessors says he had not seen the assessment.
Vincent Rigby, who left the
position on June 30, 2021, told The Globe and Mail he had also not seen the CSIS assessment.
The PCO told The Epoch Times
that Mike MacDonald, who was acting in the position from July 6 to Aug. 3, had
not seen the document.
“Mr. MacDonald does not recall
having seen any material regarding threats to MPs during this time. As a
result, no material describing any such threats was briefed,” said PCO
spokesperson Pierre-Alain Bujold in an email.
Public Safety Minister Marco
Mendicino, who was not in the role at the time, said on May 6 that it’s a “serious issue” that CSIS didn’t brief
Trudeau or his own predecessor Bill Blair directly on the matter.
Trudeau told reporters on May 3
that going forward, CSIS would need to brief the government about threats to
MPs even if the information doesn’t meet a certain threshold.
He was asked on May 7 whether
he had received new information on the issue since giving that directive.
“I wouldn’t want to mislead you
and suggest that in recent years I haven’t been advised about concerns or
issues involving MPs … related to foreign interference,” the PM said in French on May 7 while in London for King Charles III’s
coronation.
Canada expels Chinese
diplomat for alleged intimidation of lawmaker
Zhao Wei is accused of
gathering information on Conservative MP Michael Chong in retaliation for
criticism of China’s Uyghur policy
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/08/canada-expels-chinese-diplomat-zhao
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