Pompeo joins Trudeau in decrying China’s arrest of Canadians
Washington: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called China's seizure of two Canadian citizens "unlawful," language likely to further inflame tensions already running high over a trade dispute and the detention in Vancouver of a senior Chinese technology executive.
Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, speaks as Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, right, listens.Credit:Bloomberg
The comments from President Donald Trump's top diplomat come on the heels of similar remarks Friday from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the Chinese capture this week of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
The men, a Canadian diplomat on leave from his post in Hong Kong and an entrepreneur running cultural exchanges with North Korea respectively, are being held by Beijing on national security grounds.
"I can say this: The unlawful detention of two Canadian citizens is unacceptable, they ought to be returned," Pompeo said.
"The United States has stood for that whether they're our citizens or citizens of other countries. We ask all nations of the world to treat other citizens properly and the detention of these two Canadian citizens in China ought to end."
Michael Kovrig, an adviser with the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based non-governmental organisation, speaks during an interview in Hong Kong in March.Credit:AP
Canadian officials were allowed to visit Kovrig in Beijing Friday, but still haven't haven't been given access to Spavor four days after his arrest.
Tensions between Trudeau's government and China have been rising since the December 1 detention of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a US extradition request.
The two countries jointly agreed to postpone a visit by Canada's tourism minister next week.
"China is reacting to the arrest of one of their citizens but we are being absolutely clear on standing up for our citizens who've been detained, trying to figure out why, trying to work with China to demonstrate this is not acceptable," Trudeau told CityTV in a television interview aired Friday morning.
Trudeau reiterated that Canada's courts are independent and that he cannot interfere in Meng's case, despite Chinese outrage and demands for her release.
She is free on bail in Vancouver pending extradition proceedings — a process that could take years to play out. Chinese officials were able to meet with her on the day of her seizure, according to the Canadian government.
"This is one of the situations you get in when the two largest economies in the world, China and the United States, start picking a fight with each other," the prime minister said.
"The escalating trade war between them is going to have all sorts of unintended consequences on Canada, potentially on the entire global economy. We're very worried about that."
Freeland, speaking alongside Pompeo in Washington, reiterated Canada's position that it can't simply intervene in a legal proceeding, pushing back against Trump's suggestion this week that he might free the Chinese executive if he got a good trade deal with the Asian nation.
"We all agreed that the most important thing we can do is to uphold the rule of law, ensure that Ms. Meng's right to due process is respected, and that the current judicial process remains apolitical," Freeland said, echoing comments she made after the US president's remarks earlier in the week.
Officials in Beijing, meanwhile, vented more frustration over Canada's role in the Huawei executive's case. "This action has aroused public anger in China," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a briefing on Friday.
China arrested Kovrig and Spavor on Monday, but information was slow to trickle out. As of Wednesday, Canadian authorities had been notified, by fax, only of Kovrig's arrest. Spavor's status wasn't confirmed until Thursday.
Kovrig took leave from his job with Canada's foreign service to work with the International Crisis Group.
Spavor is a North Korean fixer who has met with Kim Jong-un, and has brought clients including US basketball icon Dennis Rodman to see the North Korean Leader.
Canada said its ambassador to China, John McCallum, met with Kovrig Friday, according to a statement by the foreign department.
Asked about his condition at her Washington press conference, Freeland declined to comment citing concerns for his privacy but said "we've shared with his family details of the meeting."
Tourism Minister Melanie Joly, meanwhile, had been scheduled to travel to China from December 17 to 20. Her office announced on Friday the trip has been postponed by mutual agreement. "Both governments agreed this would allow us to better achieve our shared objectives," according to a separate Canadian government statement.
Bloomberg
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