US Special Envoy and Coordinator for the Department of State’s Global Engagement Center, James Rubin, said Washington expected India to cooperate with Canada on the latter's probe into the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Terming the diplomatic row arising out of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's unsubstantiated allegations against New Delhi a "tricky subject", Rubin further said that Canada has Washington's backing in conducting the investigation.
"This is a tricky subject. Let me just say that we support Canada's investigation. We want everyone to help - including the Indian Government - help advance the investigation into this murder, and we would urge everyone to cooperate and to take the investigation as far as it goes," he stated during a virtual press briefing on Friday (local time).
On being asked if the ongoing tussle between Ottawa and New Delhi could prove to be a breeding ground for interference by Chinese state actors, Rubin said the area was "ripe for information manipulation".
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"Let me just say in our report, if you take a look at it, there are a few examples given about particular Chinese interference in Canadian domestic politics and in their universities and ways in which they've sought to manipulate their individuals, coerce individuals, and discredit individuals. And those accounts are in the report, and I urge you to take a look at that. This is obviously an area that is ripe for information manipulation," he remarked.
Rubin further said that though he does not know about the specifics of the evidence possessed by Canada against India regarding Nijjar's murder, he does know that Beijing has in the past made attempts to interfere in Canada's domestic matters. "I haven't seen any specific evidence of the Canadian-Indian issue, but I do know that China has made a big effort to interfere in the domestic affairs of Canada through the ways I mentioned," Rubin stated.
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"And it's particularly ironic, because you may remember that for decades China was the loudest demander that nobody interferes in their domestic affairs, and yet when it comes to information manipulation, when it comes to interfering in the politics in Canada, when it comes to the South China Sea, where they're interfering in the territorial waters of countries around the region, when it comes to the famous balloon incident - suddenly sovereignty is not so important to the Chinese Government," the US State Department official added.