Canada summons Chinese ambassador over alleged threats to Tory MP Michael Chong

The Liberal government is assessing how painful China’s retaliation would be if Canada decides to expel a diplomat accused of targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Thursday she requested that China’s ambassador to Canada be summoned over the affair, saying that outright expulsion remains an option on the table.

Chong, meanwhile, said he was told that when Canada’s spy agency learned about threats against him and his family in 2021, it shared its intelligence with the prime minister’s national security adviser and other departments.

That claim appears to contradict Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assertion on Wednesday that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service chose not to elevate the information about unspecified threats following Chong’s criticism of Beijing’s human rights record.

Trudeau’s office still maintains that he was left in the dark at the time, and the nature of the threats has not been made public.

At a parliamentary committee, Joly confirmed media reports that CSIS believes a diplomat working out of China’s Toronto consulate had taken note of Chong’s relatives abroad.

This happened after the MP sponsored a parliamentary motion condemning Beijing’s conduct in Xinjiang as genocide, which passed in the House of Commons.

Joly called the targeting of Chong and his family “completely unacceptable.”

“All options, including expulsion of diplomats, remain on the table as we consider the consequences for this behaviour,” she said.

But in a heated exchange with Chong, she said Ottawa isn’t sure whether it will follow demands by the Opposition Conservatives to expel the diplomat in question, citing the likelihood of provoking China.

“We’re assessing the consequences that we’ll be facing in case of diplomatic expulsion, because there will be consequences,” Joly warned.

“Economic interests, consular interests, and also diplomatic interests will be affected.”

The minister raised China’s 2018 detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, which was widely seen as retaliation for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Beijing also limited Canadian imports such as canola at the time.

She acknowledged the pressure to move fast and vowed the government will take action in light of Chong’s case.

Joly also told reporters she would make a decision “very soon” as to whether one or more Chinese diplomats are sent home.

She informed MPs she had instructed her deputy minister on Thursday to tell Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu that Canada will not tolerate any form of foreign interference in its affairs. As of midday, the Chinese embassy in Ottawa said it was reserving comment

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RELATED: CSIS must inform MPs about all threats against them, no matter how credible: Trudeau

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On Thursday afternoon, Chong told the House of Commons that Jody Thomas, the prime minister’s national security adviser, had contacted him to say CSIS had provided her predecessor’s office with a July 2021 intelligence assessment that said his family was being targeted by a Chinese diplomat.

He said Thomas told him that CSIS sent the intelligence to the national security adviser, the Privy Council Office and other relevant government departments.

Trudeau and several key ministers have saidthey only learned about the report from a Globe and Mail article published Monday, which cited a top-secret document and an unnamed security source. The prime minister said Wednesday that he ordered Canada’s intelligence agencies to immediately inform MPs of any threats against them, regardless of whether those threats are considered credible.

When asked about Chong’s allegations Thursday afternoon, Trudeauoffered only: “No comment.”

Chong, speaking to reporters later in the day, added that Thomas told him neither Trudeau nor his top aide, Katie Telford, had received information about the threats.

Trudeau spokeswoman Alison Murphy said in a statement that Thomas informed Chong “information from CSIS was not briefed up to the prime minister or his office.”

The government has noted that in 2021, CSIS briefed Chong after China publicly said it would sanction him for criticizing Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province. The agency never told Chong about any threats.

Earlier in the day, Joly expressed her sympathy for Chong, who glared at her while asking why the diplomat involved in his case had not already been sent packing.

“I cannot imagine the shock and concern of learning that your loved ones have been targeted in this way,” Joly said.

Chong appeared unimpressed, pressing: “Why is this diplomat still here?”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on MPs to vote in favour of a motion that calls on the government to take more aggressive steps, including to expel Chinese diplomats involved in foreign interference attempts.

China’s Foreign Ministry has so far played down allegations that it was trying to intimidate Chong and his relatives.

“China is opposed to any interference in a country’s internal affairs. We never interfere in Canada’s internal affairs and have no interest whatsoever in doing so,” spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing, according to an official English transcription.

Meanwhile, CSIS shed more light Thursday on other ways it sees China as attempting to meddle in Canadian affairs.

In its 2022 public report, CSIS noted reports that subnational affiliates of China’s Ministry of Public Security had set up three overseas “police stations” in Canada without permission from Ottawa.

“CSIS has observed instances where representatives from various investigatory bodies in (China) have come to Canada, often without notifying local law enforcement agencies, and used threats and intimidation in attempting to force ‘fugitive’ Chinese-Canadians and permanent residents to return.”

Foreign interference directed at Canada’s democratic institutions and processes, at all levels of government, can be an effective way for a foreign state to achieve its immediate, medium and long-term strategic objectives, the CSIS report says.

“Foreign states _ again, directly and via proxies _ may seek to influence electoral nomination processes, shape public discourse or influence policy positions of elected officials using covert tactics. The purpose is to advance issues or policies that favour the foreign state, or quell dissent.”

The report says these threat actors must be held accountable for their clandestine activities.

“We will also continue to inform national security stakeholders and all Canadians about foreign interference to the fullest extent possible under the CSIS Act, in order to build our national resilience to this pernicious threat,” it says.

CSIS reiterates warnings that the Communist government has made plans aiming “to exploit the collaborative, transparent, and open nature of Canada’s research and innovation sector in order to serve the PRC’s economic, intelligence, and military interests.”