"Last night I asked for and accepted John McCallum’s resignation as Canada’s Ambassador to China," the statement read.
Trudeau thanked McCallum for his service and specified that following McCallum's resignation Jim Nickel, the deputy head of mission in the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, would represent Canada in China as charge d'affaires.
READ MORE: Beijing Slams Open Letter Calling on Xi to Free Canadians Detained in China
The Canadian-Chinese relations have worsened after the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese high-tech giant Huawei, in Vancouver in December at the request of the US authorities on suspicions of violating Washington’s Iran sanctions. Beijing responded by detaining two Canadian nationals on suspicions of violating the Chinese national security. However, China denies that this move was related to Meng's arrest.