In 2021, a confidential Canadian intelligence report revealed that Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei had sought to gather information about the family of Conservative Member of Parliament Michael Chong. Beijing had previously hit Chong with sanctions after he sponsored a Canadian parliamentary motion saying China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region constitutes genocide. The Canadian agency said that Zhao had sought information on Chong’s relatives “who may be located in the PRC, for further potential sanctions” and that China wanted “to make an example of this MP and deter others from taking anti-PRC positions”. Following the Globe and Mail’s publication of the report in May 2023, Canada expelled Zhao Wei.