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United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says “of course” his country will help Canada render the safe release of two citizens detained in China.
Pompeo and U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis were hosting Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan in Washington today for a bilateral meeting that was partly spent discussing a fast-escalating dispute between Canada and China.
Relations between the countries have been deteriorating since Canadian law enforcement arrested Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer for Chinese telecom giant, Huawei, almost two weeks ago. Canada carried out Meng’s arrest at the request of the U.S., which wants her extradited to face allegations she violated U.S. trade sanctions against Iran.
China threatened “grave consequences” for Canada if it didn’t release Meng, who is also the daughter of Huawei’s founder. The Chinese tech heiress was granted bail on Tuesday and must be monitored 24 hours a day by both a live security detail and an electronic ankle device. She must also remain in her Vancouver home from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The same day Meng was released, news broke of Michael Kovrig’s arrest. Kovrig is a Canadian diplomat on a leave of absence from Global Affairs who’s been working with the International Crisis Group in China. Chinese officials claim his work with the non-profit group is illegal in the country. Michael Spaver, a second Canadian citizen, was detained in China shortly after. Spavor is an entrepreneur who works throughout Asia and makes frequent trips to North Korea. Photos on Spavor’s social media accounts show him with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un on multiple occasions.
China’s foreign ministry says it’s holding the Canadians because they threaten national security.
Only hours after the second Canadian was detained — and after his top envoy to Canada insisted Meng’s arrest was not politically motivated — U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters he would be willing to intervene in the case if it led to a successful trade deal between the U.S. and China, which have been exchanging tit-for-tat tariffs for much of 2018.
Freeland has maintained that Canada is following the “rule of law” in Meng’s case, and will continue doing so.
On Friday, several news outlets reported that Canada’s consular officials had been in contact with Kovrig for the first time since his detainment.
Pompeo, appearing with Sajjan, Freeland and Mattis at a news conference following their meeting on Friday, said the U.S. will advocate on Canada’s behalf to have Spaver and Kovrig returned to the country.
In response to a question by the Globe and Mail’s Adrian Morrow if the U.S. will do anything to ensure the release of the Canadians, Pompeo replied, “Of course.”
“Yeah, we’re going to work to get every citizen unlawfully detained all around the world returned to the country from which they have the very right to go back to. We do this in the case of our own people all the time,” he continued. “We always believe in that. We’ll always work on it, and we’ll do it in this case, as well.”
Freeland remained reluctant to link the arrest of Canada’s citizens by Chinese authorities with Meng’s ongoing case.
“I have spoken this week with the Chinese ambassador to Canada, and we’ve had many contacts with Chinese authorities,” Freeland said. “Chinese officials, in their contact (with) Canada, have not drawn a connection between these different issues. From Canada’s perspective, these kinds of issues aught never to be confused with one another.”
https://ipolitics.ca/2018/12/14/u-s-will-help-return-canadians-detained-in-china-pompeo/
