BEIJING (CU)_China on Thursday (Feb 18) lashed out at Canada for joining 57 other countries, including the United States, in a joint declaration against arbitrary detention of foreign nationals.
Although China was not signalled out in the declaration, however, Ottawa has frequently drawn attention to Beijing’s arbitrary detention of the two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Their detention is widely perceived in the West as retaliation for the arrest of the Huawei CFO, Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver in 2018.
Responding to the joint statement, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying reiterated Beijing’s demand for Meng’s immediate release, and called the recent declaration a “despicable and hypocritical act”.
“Canada’s so-called declaration looks more like a confession in which the Canadian side admits its mistake in the Meng Wanzhou case,” she said. “On the one hand, the Canadian side advocates that it adheres to the rule of law, but on the other hand, it acts as an accomplice of the US and arbitrarily detains Chinese citizens.”
Beijing claims that Kovrig and Spavor were arrested for endangering the national security of China, although little is known about the accusations. While in detention, the two Michaels were granted limited consular access, in contrast to Meng, who resides in one of her mansions in Vancouver under a loose form of house arrest.
In endorsing the recent declaration, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described arbitrary detentions as “an affront to international diplomatic norms”, and called on “all like-minded countries” to work together to put an end to this practice.
