By: Thomas I Likness
EBC Edmonton Bureau
EDMONTON (Eagle News) — Prime Minister Trudeau flatly ruled out trading Hauwei executive Meng Wanzhou for two Canadians who have been detained in China on espionage charges.
“No. We’re not considering that,” Trudeau said Monday. “Canada has a strong and independent justice system. We will ensure that it goes through its proper forces and anyone who’s considering weakening our values and weakening our justice system doesn’t understand the importance of standing strong on our principles and our values.”
Ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig, an ex-diplomat and businessman Michael Spavor pair were detained after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on a US warrant, in what is widely believed to have been a retaliatory move from China.
Trudeau said it is clear the pair were arrested in a retaliatory move.
“Within the very first few days of the detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, Chinese officials were highlighting a link between the detention a week before of Madame Meng and the arrest of the two Michaels,” said Trudeau. “It has been obvious from the beginning that this was a political decision made by the Chinese government and we deplore it and have from the very beginning.”
China has criticized Trudeau for those remarks, calling them “irresponsible.”
Trudeau also thanked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others for their support.
“We want to thank all of our friends and allies around the world who consistently and continually stepped up to highlight that this arbitrary detention of Canadian citizens is unacceptable,” he said. “It is deeply concerning, not just to Canadians, but to people around the world who see China using arbitrary detentions as a means to political ends.”
Pompeo demanded that China free two Canadians who were charged with spying following a row involving all three nations.
“The United States stands with Canada in calling on Beijing for the immediate release of the two men and rejects the use of these unjustified detentions to coerce Canada,” Pompeo said in a statement Monday.
Pompeo said the United States was “extremely concerned” by the charges and also urged China to allow consular access, saying there has been no contact with the pair for nearly six months.
Since their arrests, both men have endured hours of interrogation without legal counsel.
Relations between Canada and China have hit rock bottom over the arrests. Beijing has blocked billions of dollars in Canadian agricultural exports.
Meng is the daughter of the founder of Huawei, the telecom giant which the United States, with limited success, is urging all nations to shun on security grounds.
She is living in a mansion in Vancouver while she is out on bail.
(Eagle News Service)