Chinese Ambassador to Canada resigns

China’s ambassador to Canada has left his post and returned to China, a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday, the news came during a visit by a top Canadian diplomat to the Asian country.

Further details on the reasons for the departure of Cong Peiwu, who has served since 2019, are not yet known. The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China’s Foreign Ministry said earlier that Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu held talks with visiting Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison and the two discussed “China-Canada relations and other issues of common interest.”

The news of the Chinese ambassador’s resignation was first reported by Globe and Mail. The newspaper quoted sources as saying that the suddenness of Cong’s tenure ending on April 9 surprised some in the diplomatic corps.

Relations between Ottawa and Beijing have been tense since Canadian police detained Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei Technologies, in 2018 on a U.S. warrant. Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were subsequently detained by China.

China’s detention of the two Canadian men for more than 1,000 days is at the heart of Ottawa and Washington’s dispute with Beijing. The men were released in 2021, the same day the U.S. Justice Department dropped its extradition request for Meng and she returned to China.

Beijing and Ottawa also disagree on other issues, such as China’s imposition of a national security law in Hong Kong, which Canada has condemned, and China’s alleged interference in Canadian elections, which China denies and is investigating by Canadian government agencies.