Ottawa – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that Canada “will not be intimidated” by China after it expelled a Canadian diplomat today in retaliation for Ottawa removing its diplomat. Canada declared Toronto-based diplomat Zhao Wei “persona non grata.” Trudeau said today: “This is a decision we took seriously, we took with careful consideration, in order to do the right thing and expel the Chinese diplomat. We understand there is retaliation, but we will not be intimidated and we will continue to do everything necessary to keep our Canadians protected from foreign interference. These are things that we considered, but we decided that we needed to move forward in a responsible way to send a very clear message that we will not accept foreign interference. Regardless of whatever next choices they make, we will not be intimidated and more, we will ensure that China continues to see, along with other countries that are engaging in foreign interference, that we take this extraordinarily seriously.”
