Chinese foreign ministry tells U.S., EU to take Canada to task for Meng arrest
OTTAWA — Western allies’ support for Canada in its argument with China over the arrests of two Canadians on national-security grounds have made China “very dissatisfied,” its foreign ministry said Monday.
Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the detention of Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer is a much bigger international offence than China’s own arrests of two Canadians, including a former diplomat.
After Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on an American extradition warrant, Chinese authorities picked up researcher and analyst Michael Kovrig, who is on leave from Canada’s foreign service to work for the anti-war International Crisis Group, and businessman Michael Spavor, who arranges exchanges with North Korea.
In the last few days, officials from the United States and Europe have joined Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland’s complaints about the arrests. Saturday, for the first time, Freeland directly demanded that China release the two.