The Chinese ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, who has been serving since 2019, has left his job and gone back to China. This news came out while a senior Canadian diplomat was visiting China. We don’t know exactly why he left. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa hasn’t given any comment yet.

Before this, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu met with Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison. They talked about the relationship between China and Canada and other important topics.

The Globe and Mail newspaper first reported about the ambassador leaving. It was surprising for many because it happened suddenly, without much warning.

Canada and China haven’t been getting along well since 2018. That’s when Canadian police arrested Meng Wanzhou, a top executive of Huawei, a big Chinese tech company, because of a request from the United States. After that, China arrested two Canadian men, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.

China kept those two Canadians in custody for more than 1,000 days. This was a big part of the disagreement between Canada, the United States, and China. Finally, in 2021, the two Canadians were released on the same day the U.S. dropped its request to send Meng to America.

Besides this, Canada and China have had disagreements about other things too. For example, Canada doesn’t like China’s new law about security in Hong Kong. Canada has also accused China of trying to influence Canadian elections, although China denies this and Canada is still investigating.

Overall, the relationship between Canada and China has been rocky, and the departure of the Chinese ambassador adds another layer of uncertainty.