A Canadian journalist says he quit working for China's news agency because it wanted him to spy on the Dalai Lama in Ottawa. But the Ottawa bureau chief of Xinhua news agency dismissed that claim as "Cold War" ideology. Ottawa-based freelance journalist and author Mark Bourrie made the allegation against Xinhua in an article published in Ottawa Magazine and in an interview with The Canadian Press. The matter will likely revive debate around the longstanding issue of whether Xinhua is an intelligence-gathering front for the Chinese government instead of a legitimate news service.
