China says Trudeau wasting time asking for Trump’s help
PM wants U.S. to delay signing ‘final’ trade deal
China’s government warned Canada not to waste its time hoping U. S. President Donald Trump will help in the release of two Canadian nationals detained by the Asian powerhouse since last December.
The U. S. 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 Co. executive being detained in Vancouver is also settled, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 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.”
In a French- language i nterview with Quebec broadcaster TVA on Thursday, Trudeau said the U. S. shouldn’t sign any “final” trade agreement with China without first having those two matters resolved. “We have said the U. S. shouldn’t sign a final and complete agreement with China that doesn’t settle the question of Meng Wanzhou and the two Canadians,” Trudeau said.
Kovrig was detained last December along with Spavor, a fellow Canadian who had organized trips to North Korea, days after Huawei’s Meng — daughter of Huawei’s billionaire founder — was arrested by Canadian authorities in Vancouver in response to a U.S. extradition request. The Canadians were formally arrested on charges related to the theft of state secrets.
China has repeatedly denied a link between the detentions and Huawei’s Meng. Canada has asked the U. S. to intervene in the matter of the two detained Canadians.
In an interview Friday Foreign Affairs Minister François- Philippe Champagne refused to say how Washington responded to Canada’s request to hold off on signing a trade deal with China.
In the interview with The Canadian Press, Champagne didn’t want to discuss private talks between his government and the Americans regarding the detention of Spavor and Kovrig.
“A lot things are happening,” he said. “But you understand that in the interests of the two Michaels, it wouldn’t be in their interests for me to go into all the details about what we are trying to do.”
When asked how U. S. officials responded to Trudeau’s request, Champagne said the Canadian government’s “solemn obligation” is to use all the means available to demand the immediate release of Kovrig and Spavor. “And that’s what the prime minister did yesterday.”
The Globe and Mail reported Friday that Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng dismissed Trudeau’s attempt to sway the Americans, describing the prime minister’s request as “doomed to fail” and “totally in vain.”
Geng said the trade deal between China and the United States is beneficial to both sides and Trump will undoubtedly prioritize the economic interests of his country.
“The conclusion of the ‘ phase 1’ deal is in the interest of both the U. S. and China, as comports with the aspirations of the rest of the world,” he said.
Champagne said securing the release of Kovrig and Spavor is his department’s top priority.
“There isn’t another foreign affairs file on which we are spending more time, more energy, more means, than the release of the two Michaels,” he said.
Here’s some advice to the Canadian side.