Canada says ‘highly probable’ China targeted MP Michael Chong online
- The lawmaker has drawn Beijing’s ire as a frequent critic and sponsored a motion to declare China’s treatment of Uygurs amounted to genocide
- China sought information about Chong and his family in China in a probably effort to ‘make an example’ of him, earlier reports said
Canada said on Wednesday that an opposition Canadian legislator with family in Hong Kong had been targeted in an online disinformation operation and said it was highly probable that China played a role.
In a statement, the Canadian foreign ministry said the target was Michael Chong, a member of the opposition Conservative party, who has been a frequent critic of China and drawn Beijing’s ire.
The announcement is likely to further sour already 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.
02:13
Chinese Canadians caught in the crossfire as Canada-China tensions rise
The 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.