Canada Says Detained Pair Have Not Gone On Trial

Canada said on Thursday that it has confirmed with China that two Canadians held for two years in China in a case linked to a Huawei executive have not been put on trial, contrary to remarks by a Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor have been confined by China since December 10, 2018, just days after Canada detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecommunications equipment giant.

Asked about the Canadians at a daily briefing on Thursday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying said the two had been “arrested, indicted and tried,” in what appeared to be the first public assertion that they had been brought to court.

Hua gave no details, and Canada’s Global Affairs Department issued a statement later on Thursday saying that Canadian Embassy officials in Beijing had spoken with the ministry, which confirmed that the men had not gone on trial.

Chinese officials “confirmed that the confusion was caused by an inaccurate characterisation of the process made by the Chinese MFA spokesperson,” the statement said.

Chinese prosecutors announced earlier this year that Kovrig had been charged on suspicion of spying for state secrets and intelligence, and Spavor on suspicion of spying for a foreign entity and illegally providing state secrets.

Neither China nor Canada has released specifics about their cases.

Canada detained Meng at the request of the United States, which is seeking her extradition to face fraud charges.

Hua said her case and those of the Canadians were ”different in nature," with Meng's being a “purely political incident." Despite that, China has consistently linked the fate of the two Canadians to its demands that Meng be released immediately. (AP)

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