The public dispute between Canada and China continues to escalate with Beijing suggesting that Ottawa and its allies are “hypocrites” for speaking out against the arrest of two Canadians and ignoring the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a high-ranking executive of the telecom giant Huawei.
“It’s quite obvious that the human rights they are talking about have different standards when it comes to citizens of different countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said Monday.
Hua was responding to comments by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland over the weekend about the arrests earlier this month of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
Michael Spavor (right) and former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig were taken into custody earlier this month in China. (Associated Press/ International Crisis Group/Canadian Press)
Kovrig, a former diplomat and an advisor with the International Crisis Group think tank, and Spavor, a businessman, were arrested on allegations of “engaging in activities that endanger the national security” of China.
Many observers say the the arrests were in response to the arrest of Meng at Vancouver airport on Dec. 1 as she was travelling from Hong Kong to Mexico.
Meng was released on bail earlier this month under strict conditions, including wearing an angle monitor and confinement to her Vancouver home from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The Canadians were acting at the request of the U.S., which wants her extradicted for what Washington says are violations of international sanctions against Iran through a “hidden Huawei subsidiary called Skycom.
China also arrested a “female Canadian citizen,” identified as Sarah McIver earlier this month.
Beijing says she was “working illegally.”
It is not clear if her case is related to the two other Canadians.
In a conference call with reporters on Saturday, Freeland said she raised the conditions of the Canadians’ detention in a meeting with China’s ambassador to Canada but gave no further details of the conversation.
