Canada to expel Chinese diplomat after threats to lawmaker

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is moving to expel a Chinese diplomat whom Canada’s spy agency alleged was involved in a plot to intimidate an opposition lawmaker and his relatives in Hong Kong. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canada has declared Toronto-based diplomat Zhao Wei as “persona non grata.” Calls for Zhao to be expelled began last week after a report in the Globe and Mail that CSIS had information in 2021 that the Chinese government was looking at ways to intimidate Conservative lawmaker Michael Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong. The federal government has confirmed that report. Chong has been critical of Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province.