China Expels Canadian Diplomat in Retaliation for Ottawa Declaring Chinese Diplomat ‘Persona Non Grata’

A security guard stands on duty as residents pass by the Canadian Embassy in Beijing on June 19, 2020. The Canadian Press/AP-Ng Han Guan

Beijing announced early Tuesday morning that it would expel a Canadian diplomat from China as a retaliatory measure after the Canadian government announced the day before that a Chinese diplomat who reportedly targeted an MP and his family is no longer welcome in Canada.

Beijing declared Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, consul in the Canadian consulate in Shanghai, “persona non grata” on May 9 and ordered her to leave China by May 13.

China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement that the regime took the action as it “strongly condemns and firmly opposes” Canada’s move to expel Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei on May 8.

Beijing called the expulsion of Lalonde “a reciprocal countermeasure in reaction to Canada’s unscrupulous move” and said it “reserves the right to further react.”

The Chinese regime had threatened retaliatory measures after Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced that Zhao would be sent back to China.

The move to expel Zhao came after a May 1 report by the Globe and Mail said that Zhao and a PRC spy service had targeted Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family living in Hong Kong after Chong sponsored a motion declaring China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities a genocide. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) later confirmed the allegation.

Opposition parties had demanded the expulsion of the Chinese diplomat earlier.

Joly told a House of Commons committee on May 4 that the delay was because the government needed to consider how Beijing would react if Zhao were expelled—especially considering how it retaliated after Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant to have her extradited on fraud charges in 2018.

According to the Globe, the information about the threat to Chong’s family was known in 2021. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had earlier said he wasn’t briefed on the issue and only learned about it through media this month, and that the assessment didn’t leave the CSIS. However, National Security and Intelligence Advisor Jody Thomas, whose office reports to the prime minister, told MP Chong that her office had received the report, though she wasn’t at the helm at the time.

Beijing arbitrarily detained Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor after Meng’s arrest in December 2018, and did not release them until September 2021.

House of Commons Motion

Ottawa’s expulsion of Zhao came within hours of the House of Commons voting 170 to 150 in favour of a Conservative motion calling on the Liberal government to immediately act on four specific issues relating to Beijing’s reported interference in Canadian affairs.

The motion, introduced by Conservative MP Michael Cooper several days earlier, called on Ottawa to immediately shut down the PRC-run police stations operating in Canada, expel all Chinese diplomats “responsible for and involved in” interference measures, immediately create a foreign agent registry, and establish a national public inquiry on foreign election interference.

All opposition parties voted in favour of the non-binding motion, while only Liberal MPs and Independent MP Han Dong voted against.

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.