Chinese FM slams Canada's accusation of Chinese interference in elections 'simply ridiculous'

It is simply ridiculous that some Canadian politicians are spreading lies about China, the Chinese Foreign Ministry stressed again, over Canada's latest move to investigate Beijing's so-called interference in Canada's elections. 

China is always against countries' interference in other nations' internal affairs. China has no interest in interfering in Canada's internal affairs and would never do so, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stressed at Wednesday's regular news conference.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that he will appoint a special investigator to decide whether there should be a public inquiry into reports of Chinese interference in Canada's elections, AP News reported.

The major objective of his move is to coordinate Canada's diplomatic strategy with that of the U.S., but it will eventually harm Canada's national image, reducing it to the status of a "U.S. follower," observers warned.

The reason for this investigation is that Canada is anxious to prove that its diplomatic strategy is coordinated with that of the U.S., Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

"To this end, Canada is trying very hard to create an unfriendly atmosphere in its society by hyping negative issues related to China,'' Li said.

Following the U.S.' footsteps, Canada has recently ramped up efforts targeting China in a series of moves, including hyping alleged "air and maritime surveillance attempts" and "monitoring buoys" in the Arctic by China, as well as the "Chinese interference" in the 2021 presidential election.

Yao Peng, deputy secretary-general of the Canadian Studies Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the U.S. benefits from the current tension in China-Canadian relations the most, while Canada will rely more on U.S. imports and become an important part of the U.S.' restructuring of the high-tech industry supply chain. This will reach Washington's goal of further coordinating Ottawa's pace with its own and even controlling Canada in many spheres.

"If Canada continues to follow U.S. foreign policy in this way, when people think of Canada, they will think of a U.S. follower," Li said. "Such a move would be detrimental to both the improvement of China-Canada relations and Canada's international image."