GOLDSTEIN: Trudeau ignored warning after warning about foreign interference. Why?
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Canada Summons Chinese Ambassador, Mulls Expelling Diplomats
Last updated May 05, 2023
Image credit: ITNFacts
- Canada's Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly, announced on Thursday the summoning of the Chinese ambassador, Cong Peiwu, to assert that Ottawa "will not tolerate" foreign interference.[1]
- This comes as she confirmed media reports that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service believes a Toronto-based Chinese diplomat has harassed Conservative legislator Michael Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong.[2]
- In addition to summoning the ambassador, the Canadian government is believed to be considering additional options — including expelling Chinese diplomats.[3]
- Chong, who has criticized Beijing's treatment of Uyghur and other ethnic minority Muslims in the Xinjiang province, has stated that the diplomat allegedly involved in the plot should already have been told to leave Canada.[4]
- Chong claimed on Thursday that a 2021 intelligence report was shared with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's top security adviser, contradicting comments Trudeau made a day earlier that the information was never briefed outside the agency.[5]
- Allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian politics are not new, with media reports about Beijing's attempts to meddle in federal elections in 2019 and 2021 emerging in recent weeks.[6]
Spin
Right narrative
Trudeau has long been advised that foreign interference was co-opting Canadian politicians and officials at all levels by bribery and threats, with his government being told to join forces with regional governments and create a foreign agent registration system to curb this problem. His neglect of this issue has now become a threat to Canadian national security.
Left narrative
The Canadian government obviously must take measures to tackle foreign interference but caution and moderation are needed. Policies such as registering foreign agents, backed by opposition parties, might prove disastrous for the civil rights of people in Canada as those expressing establishment-critical viewpoints would be treated differently than those liaising with Western foreign officials.
Pro-China narrative
Given that Beijing has unwaveringly opposed any country meddling in another country's domestic affairs, claims recently made by Canadian media outlets and politicians that the Chinese Consulate-General in Toronto was coercing a Canadian lawmaker are completely baseless. Once again, certain sectors of the West continue to engage in a smear campaign against the PRC to disrupt bilateral relations.
