MONTRÉAL, Québec (CU)_Canada on Monday (Feb 15), led a declaration signed by more than 50 other countries, targeting the arbitrary detention of foreign nationals, during a virtual ceremony in Ottawa. It did not single out any country by name, although China was not among the 58 nations which signed “the declaration against arbitrary detention in state-to-state relations”.
“This illegal and immoral practice puts citizens of all countries at risk and it undermines the rule of law,” Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement. “It is unacceptable and it must stop.”
Ottawa has frequently drawn attention to Beijing’s arbitrary detention of Canadians, especially following the arrest of the two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in 2018. Known as the two Michaels, the pair were detained nine days after the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a Chinese Huawei official in Vancouver, on a US extradition request.
While her arrest severely damaged relations between China and Canada, the detention of the two Canadians is widely perceived in the West as retaliation for the arrest of the Huawei CFO, although Beijing denies these allegations.
Following the recent declaration, the Chinese Embassy in Canada on Tuesday reiterated that Meng’s arrest was “completely political”. “The Canadian side’s attempt to pressure China by using ‘Megaphone Diplomacy’ or ganging up is totally futile and will only head towards a dead end,” the Embassy said.
Meanwhile, the United States, which was among the countries which signed the declaration, described arbitrary detentions as “an affront to international diplomatic norms.” “When they are used, as too many nations do, to try to obtain leverage in state-to-state relations, they are a heinous act against the human rights of the individuals in question,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
According to the Canadian Foreign Minister, the declaration was a “multilateral approach” by which, Canada and the other signatories aimed to build up momentum for the initiative, in the same way it did for its 1997 treaty against the use of anti-personnel mines.
