Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has expelled a Chinese envoy from Canada, a move that could prompt economic or diplomatic backlash from President Xi Jinping.
The envoy, Zhao Wei, was named in a Globe and Mail report last week that cited a leaked Canadian intelligence document. The newspaper reported that the document, dated July 2021, revealed the diplomat was looking into penalizing Conservative lawmaker Michael Chong over his hard-line positions on the Beijing government, punishment that could entail sanctioning Chong’s relatives in Hong Kong.
Zhao has been ordered to leave the country, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Monday in a statement.