MONTRÉAL, Québec (CU)_Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has urged nations across the world to establish a unified front against Chinese detention of foreign citizens.
Canada has repeatedly called on its allies to press Beijing for the release of the two Canadian men who were arrested in December 2018, and the Prime Minister’s recent remarks came as Beijing offered more consular access to these two Canadians, known as the two Michaels, who were charged with spying.
Participating in an Interview at the Reuters Next summit which aired on Thursday (Jan 14), Trudeau said Canada has “a tremendous level of alignment” with its allies around the world, in to discuss the issue of coercive diplomacy increasingly used by China.
“We must all stand together because who knows whose citizens might be next?” he noted.
In December 2018, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were arbitrarily detained by Chinese authorities, in apparent retaliation to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a Chinese Huawei official in Vancouver, on a US extradition request. Meng is currently under house arrest in Vancouver as she fights extradition.
A source familiar with the matter said that since October, consular visits for the two men had been restored to the pre-pandemic levels, and their families had also spoken to them once by phone. This was confirmed by Syrine Khoury, a spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Marc Garneau, who said Ottawa had obtained agreements for increased family and consular access in the recent months, but gave no further details.
According to Khoury, Meng has also been granted permission for visits from family members, although it is unclear if this was linked to the increased consular access granted for the two Michaels.
