A DELEGATION OF CANADIAN POLITICIANS WILL ARRIVE IN BEIJING SATURDAY TO APPEAL FOR THE RELEASE OF TWO CANADIANS DETAINED LAST MONTH.

CHINA WON’T SAY WHY THEY ARE CONSIDERED A NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT.

• A group of Canadian lawmakers travelling to China this weekend will use the trip to push for the release of two Canadians detained there since last month, says a Conservative MP in the delegation.

Michael Kovrig, a diplomat on a leave from Global Affairs Canada and employed in Beijing by the International Crisis Group, and the entrepreneur Michael Spavor were arrested last month in China. The arrests are widely viewed as Chinese retaliation for Canada’s arrest of high-tech executive Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, by the RCMP in Vancouver at the request of the United States.

On Thursday, an unexpected statement from China’s top prosecutor expressed confidence Thursday about the case against the two men — an unusual move but potentially revealing.

Zhang Jun told a briefing Thursday that “without a doubt” Kovrig and Spavor broke the country’s laws and are being investigated.

Chinese officials are generally tight-lipped on politically sensitive issues, so the fact that an official spoke out about Kovrig and Spavor is noteworthy. It is also significant that it came from a top prosecutor, said Julian Ku, a professor at Hofstra University’s law school.

Ku said a comment from Zhang hints that Beijing plans to channel the case through China’s legal system rather than handling it using extralegal methods often used in high-profile, political cases. “The worst situation is when you are outside the legal process. It’s not great to be in it, but it’s worse to be outside it,” he said.

Robert Malley, the Crisis Group’s president and a former member of the U.S. national security council, said Thursday that he hoped people travelling to China would raise the matter.

“People who do go to China, I’m hoping they will raise this with their interlocutors to make clear that it is hurting China’s image in the world, and it’s going to make it harder for some people who want to travel to China,” he said.

That’s exactly what the members of the Canada-china Legislative Association say they will do when they arrive in China on Saturday, said Conservative MP Michael Cooper.

“I and the other members of the delegation will engage with Chinese officials in as constructive way as possible, with the obvious objective of seeing these two Canadians returned safely and as soon as possible,” Cooper said.

The Edmonton-area MP is joining three Liberal MPS, a Liberal senator and Conservative senator on the previously scheduled trip that is being funded by Canadian taxpayers.