China is providing Canada with all the necessary assistance to enable the country to fulfill its consular protection. The legitimate rights and interests of the two Canadian citizens would be respected, Hua said at the State Department’s daily press conference.
The two Canadians, businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig, are suspected of involvement in activities that threaten China’s national security. It would be investigated against her and her sentence would be in line with the law, Hua said.
According to the Canadian Foreign Ministry, Reuters, John McCallum, Canada’s ambassador to China, visited Kovrig on Friday and Spavor in prison on Saturday.
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland in Washington on Friday that the arrest of the two Canadians was unlawful and unacceptable. They should be released.
Freeland said that the arrest of chief financial officer of Chinese electronics giant Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver on December 1, was in line with the rule of law and the fulfillment of Canada’s international treaty obligations.
„With so much happening, it’s amazing that the US and Canada still claim to abide by the rule of law,“ Hua said, adding that this sounds like a modern version of the tale of the emperor’s new clothes.
Such statements disregarded the facts and ignored the rule of law, causing laughter.
Many Canadians have written to the Chinese Embassy in Canada or the Canadian media to criticize the unreasonable and unlawful measures taken by the Canadian government. Many Americans, including economist Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University, commented on the case.
China seriously calls on Canada to correct its mistake and release Meng. Hua appealed to the United States to lift the arrest warrant against Meng.
