Mr. Dong now sits as an independent in the House of Commons, where a special rapporteur will look into allegations of Chinese interference, including those involving the Toronto-area MP, who allegedly accepted help from Chinese officials to get elected.
Mr. Dong withdrew from the Liberal caucus on Wednesday evening, after Global Newsunder the faith of anonymous security sources, revealed that he had privately advised a senior Chinese diplomat to delay the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
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Both Michaels spent more than a thousand days behind bars in China before being released in 2021.
In the House of Commons, Mr. Dong assured that he intends to defend himself against “these completely false allegations”. He said he never did anything that would have put the two Michaels in danger.
Asked about Mr. Dong’s decision on Thursday in Beijing, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs argued that “Canada might be in a better position” to comment on this file, adding that “China opposes interference in the internal affairs of other countries”.
“We have no interest and we will not interfere in the internal affairs of Canada,” said Wang Wenbin.
China arrested Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in apparent retaliation for the December 2018 arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on a US extradition warrant. .
Beijing has always maintained that these two files were unrelated, even though the arrests were made shortly after and the two Michaels were released on the same day as Ms. Meng.
