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China says Justin Trudeau wasting time asking for Trump’s help on Canadian detainees
- PM had asked Washington to delay US-China trade deal until matter of arrested citizens and extradition case involving Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou were resolved
- Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang says Canada will ‘gain nothing’ from ‘ganging up’ on China
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China’s government warned Canada not to waste its time hoping US President Donald Trump will help in the release of two foreign nationals detained by the Asian powerhouse since last December.
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The US should delay a trade deal with China until the matters of the two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, are resolved, and until the extradition case of a Huawei Technologies executive being detained in Vancouver is also settled, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.
Speaking at a press briefing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the two Canadians are facing national security-related charges, while the case of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou is entirely Canada’s fault.
“Here’s some advice to the Canadian side: don’t waste your time and effort on ganging up on China or pressuring China for unrelated matters, because you will gain nothing from that,” Geng said, according to a transcript of the briefing on the finance ministry’s website.
“As to the cases involving two Canadian citizens that Canada keeps bringing up, they are suspected of conducting activities that endangered China’s national security.”
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