The Chinese regime is warning of “counterstrikes” against Canada if a Conservative government is elected next week.
Chinese politburo mouthpiece Global Times published an article last week sharing threats from officials at China’s state-run China Foreign Affairs University.
“(If) the Canadian government puts those hawkish words into action, it will invite counterstrikes from China, and Ottawa is the one to suffer,” the report said of the Conservative party’s tough line on China.
Last month, China’s ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, took aim at the Conservatives’ tough-on-China platform in a Hill Times interview.
“Some people put their personal political interests above the interests of the Canadian people as a whole and hype issues related to China,” Cong said of O’Toole.
A few weeks prior, O’Toole revealed during a press conference that he does not think the Trudeau government has what it takes to prevent foreign interference in the 2021 election.
“I do think there’s risks of foreign interference, particularly with what we’ve seen happen in other democracies – allies of Canada,” said O’Toole.
“We’ve seen interference from bad actors and I feel that Mr. Trudeau hasn’t been doing enough in this situation.”
This is not the first time that China has indicated preference for a Liberal government over a Conservative one.
In 2019, Trudeau’s hand picked former ambassador to China John McCallum warned Chinese media that if China kept threatening Canada it would lead to a Conservative victory, which would be a disadvantage to China.
“Anything that is more negative against Canada will help the Conservatives, (who) are much less friendly to China than the Liberals,” McCallum said at the time.
McCallum was removed from his post shortly after the incident.
