Mainland Charges Two Detained Canadians With Spying

The mainland has begun the prosecution of two Canadian nationals detained since December 2018 on spying charges, officials said on Friday, in a move likely to increase tensions between Beijing and Ottawa.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate said that ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig – who was based in Hong Kong – and businessman Michael Spavor were "suspected of foreign espionage" and leaking "state secrets".

Chinese official media had earlier accused Kovrig, an Asia expert at the International Crisis Group, of acting with Spavor to steal state secrets.

Both were arrested on December 10 after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on December 1 at the request of US authorities who want her extradited to face fraud charges.

In December, the Chinese foreign ministry said it had ended an investigation into the two, and the case had been turned over to prosecutors. Kovrig's case is being handled by prosecutors in Beijing, and Spavor's in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

Canada has called the arrests "arbitrary".

Last month, Huawei's Meng, the daughter of the founder of the telecoms giant, lost a legal bid to avoid extradition to the United States to face bank fraud charges, dashing hopes for an end to her house arrest in Vancouver. (AFP)