Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Canada
Newsline: Chinese embassy in Canada refutes foreign interference accusations
The Chinese embassy in Canada expressed “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition” to the baseless accusation of “China’s interference in Canada’s internal affairs,” according to its spokesperson. The initial report released by Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission on Friday launched a scathing attack on countries including China, Russia and India, accusing them of interfering in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 general elections. “We have never meddled in Canada’s internal affairs, nor do we have any intention to do so. The attempts by certain Canadian politicians to shift blame onto China for their own electoral failures are unfair and unethical, revealing their self-serving and shameless nature,” the spokesperson said, adding that China has consistently upheld the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs. The report is riddled with contradictions and ideological bias and lacks credibility. It uses terms like “may,” “might,” “potential” and other misleading words. It claims to derive conclusions from “intelligence” yet also states that the intelligence has not been proven. “Not all of the information provided below necessarily has been corroborated or fully assessed.” The spokesperson said that such contradictory statements undermine the Report’s validity and suggest a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. (http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2024-05/04/content_117165933.htm) Canada has a record of grossly interfering in China’s domestic affairs on issues concerning China’s core interests, including Taiwan, Xinjiang, Xizang and Hong Kong, the spokesperson added. It seeks to undermine China’s security and stability by overtly and covertly condoning and supporting separatist activities. These are clear and well-grounded facts. According to the spokesperson, Canada’s actions are akin to a thief calling on others to catch a thief.
Newsline: China’s ambassador to Canada leaves his post
Chinese ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, who has served since 2019, has left his post and returned to China, a source familiar with the matter said, with the news emerging during a senior Canadian diplomat’s visit to the Asian nation. (https://neuters.de/world/americas/chinas-ambassador-canada-leaves-his-post-2024-04-21/) Further details into why he left his post were not immediately available. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China’s foreign ministry said earlier that Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu held talks with visiting Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison and the two discussed “China-Canada relations and other issues of mutual interest and concern.” The Chinese ambassador’s departure was first reported by the Globe and Mail. Cong’s posting ended on April 9 and came as a surprise to some in the diplomatic corps because of its abruptness, the newspaper said, citing sources. Relations between Ottawa and Beijing have been tense since 2018 when Canadian police detained Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies, on a U.S. warrant. Later, Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were taken into custody by China. China had detained the two Canadian men for more than 1,000 days in a step that was at the center of Ottawa and Washington’s dispute with Beijing. The men were released in 2021 on the same day the U.S. Justice Department dropped its extradition request for Meng and she returned to China.
Newsline: Canada protests killing of aid workers in Gaza to Israel ambassador
Canada’s Foreign Affairs minister Melanie Joly called on Wednesday for a full investigation into the killing of aid workers in Gaza, amongst whom was a Canadian citizen, by an Israeli airstrike. Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, she said Israel needed to respect international law. Seven aid workers died in the attack on Monday, including 33-year-old dual U.S.-Canadian citizen Jacob Flickinger. In Toronto, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said officials had spoken to Israeli ambassador Iddo Moed to express “our dismay at the unacceptable deaths of a Canadian-American aid worker along with others … the world needs very clear answers as to how this happened”. (https://neuters.de/world/middle-east/canadas-joly-wants-full-investigation-into-killing-aid-workers-gaza-2024-04-03/) Israel says the air strike that killed the seven aid workers was a mistake.
Newsline: $100,000 Offered Reward For Citizen’s Arrest Of Indian Envoy In Canada
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the founder of the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), has made yet another statement against Indian diplomats in Canada, offering cash reward for a “citizen’s arrest” of Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Verma. The radical Khalistani separatist accused the Indian diplomat of “maliciously” raising the bogey of a terror threat to Air India to “divert attention” from the investigation into the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. (https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/khalistani-separatist-announces-100-000-reward-for-citizen-s-arrest-of-indian-envoy-in-canada/ar-AA1jPc69)Diplomatic relations between Canada and India are at an all-time low since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of killing of Nijjar in June in the Canadian town of Surrey. New Delhi denied the allegations, and temporarily suspended the issuance of visas to Canadian citizens and asked Ottawa to downsize its diplomatic presence in the country to ensure parity. India has since resumed the issuance of four types of visas for Canadians. Canada has already withdrawn 41 diplomats and their family members from India.
Newsline: Canada-India diplomatic thaw remains slow despite visa easing
Mending frayed diplomatic relations between India and Canada will be a long process after each side adopted maximalist positions, despite New Delhi’s surprise move to ease some visa curbs on Canadians. (https://neuters.de/world/india-canada-diplomatic-thaw-remains-remote-despite-visa-easing-2023-11-06/) India recently decided to partially restore visa services, weeks after suspending them in anger at Ottawa’s claim that Indian agents may have been involved in the murder of a Canadian Sikh separatist leader from Punjab state. Mutual recriminations since that accusation, which India strongly denies, have strained ties between the two countries – close for almost a century and with extensive links through the Sikh diaspora – to their worst in memory. And while India’s relaxation on visas may have raised some expectations of improved relations, it was not a breakthrough, as neither side has much incentive to hasten a return to normalcy, officials and experts in both countries said. Neither New Delhi nor Ottawa looks likely to take dramatic steps to reconcile soon as Canada’s murder investigation proceeds and Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares for Indian national elections by May.
Newsline: Canadian Sikhs stage protests outside India’s diplomatic missions
Canadian Sikhs staged small protests outside India’s diplomatic missions on Monday, a week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there may be a link between New Delhi and the murder of a Sikh separatist advocate in British Columbia. About 100 protesters in Toronto burned an Indian flag and struck a cardboard cut-out of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a shoe. About 200 protesters also gathered outside the Vancouver consulate. In Ottawa, fewer than 100 people gathered in front of the Indian High Commissioner’s office (embassy) in the capital. They waved yellow flags marked with the world “Khalistan”, a reference to their support for making India’s Punjab region an independent state for Sikhs, a cause Nijjar campaigned for. “We are really thankful to Justin Trudeau… We want no stone left unturned to get to the bottom of this cowardly act,” protester Reshma Singh Bolinas said in Ottawa. Canada should put pressure on India to “stop the killing of innocent people in future.” (https://neuters.de/world/canadian-sikh-group-urges-followers-protest-outside-indian-embassies-2023-09-25/) Trudeau a week ago stood in parliament to say that domestic intelligence agencies were actively pursuing credible allegations tying New Delhi’s agents to the shooting of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, in June. Canada is home to about 770,000 Sikhs – the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab – and in recent years there have been many demonstrations that have irked India.
Newsline: Canada, India expel diplomats in tat-for-tat moves
Canada and India expelled a diplomat in tat-for-tat moves, with Canada throwing out India’s top intelligence agent and New Delhi responding by giving a Canadian diplomat five days to leave. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said authorities were “actively pursuing credible allegations” linking New Delhi’s agents to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader, an assertion India quickly dismissed as “absurd”. Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen is “an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”, Trudeau told the House of Commons in an emergency statement on Monday. He was referring to Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, shot dead outside a Sikh temple on June 18 in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population, three years after India had designated him as a “terrorist”. India’s foreign ministry did not disclose the name or rank of the Canadian diplomat it had asked to leave the country. “The decision reflects the government of India’s growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities,” it said in a statement. (https://neuters.de/world/india/india-dismisses-absurd-canadas-accusation-sikh-leaders-murder-2023-09-19/) The ministry had summoned Cameron MacKay, Canada’s high commissioner, or ambassador, in New Delhi to notify him of the move. The spat deals a fresh blow to diplomatic ties that have been fraying for years, with New Delhi unhappy over Sikh separatist activity in Canada. It now threatens trade ties too, with talks on a proposed trade deal frozen last week.
Newsline: Canada’s foreign ministry says China likely targeted lawmaker
Canada said on Wednesday that an opposition Canadian legislator with family in Hong Kong had been targeted in an online disinformation operation and said China most likely played a role. In a statement, the Canadian foreign ministry said the target was Michael Chong, a member of the opposition Conservative party, a frequent critic of China who has drawn Beijing’s ire. The announcement is likely to further sour poor bilateral ties. Canadian authorities are carrying out several probes into allegations of Chinese interference in Canada’s last two federal elections. “It has been proved time and again that none of these accusations are based on facts,” the Chinese embassy said in a statement, dismissing the Canadian comments as groundless. The Canadian foreign ministry said it had detected an information operation on the Chinese social media platform WeChat in May that “featured, shared and amplified a large volume of false or misleading narratives” about Chong. “(We) will raise with China’s representatives in Canada our serious concerns,” it said. (https://neuters.de/world/americas/canada-says-highly-probable-china-engaged-online-targeting-canadian-lawmaker-2023-08-09/) In May, Canada expelled a Chinese diplomat after an intelligence report accused him of trying to target Chong.
Newsline: Canada’s police identify 15 suspects in storming of Senegalese Embassy
Ottawa police are asking for help identifying 15 people accused of storming the Embassy of Senegal. In a statement, they say a protest was happening just before noon on Aug. 1 and that a group forced their way inside the embassy. (https://rdnewsnow.com/2023/08/09/ottawa-police-identify-15-suspects-in-storming-of-senegalese-embassy/) The Senegalese Embassy says in a statement that people violently took over the premises, causing serious damage to the consular section and hurting staff and visitors. The embassy says it is suspending consular activities such as passport processing until it is able to safely reopen.
Newsline: Canada, Dominican Republic agree on Haitian crisis joint diplomatic response
Canada and the Dominican Republic have agreed that Canada will coordinate assistance for Haiti by boosting staff at its embassies in Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo, the countries said in a joint statement on Wednesday. The agreement settles a public dispute last week over a proposed Canadian office in Dominican territory that risked further complicating an international plan to boost Haiti’s outgunned police force. “Canada and the Dominican Republic have solid bilateral relations and are long standing partners including on regional security matters,” the joint statement said. “We will enhance coordination in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Canada and other locations as required including through increased presence at the Canadian embassies in Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo,” the countries said in the statement. (https://news.yahoo.com/canada-dominican-republic-reach-agreement-191142931.html) Last week, Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced plans to set up an office to coordinate Haiti assistance in the neighboring Dominican Republic, but a day later, her Dominican counterpart, Roberto Alvarez, said there was no deal to authorize such an office. The Dominican Republic has strained relations with Haiti, with which it shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.
Diplomatic Briefing 