Beijing complaints about Ottawa's “megaphone diplomacy” over detained Canadians

China is unhappy with recent statements by Canadian politicians regarding the situation with Canadian citizens detained in China and is strongly opposed to Canadian "megaphone diplomacy."  This is stated in a statement by the Chinese embassy in Ottawa.

 "Recently, some Canadian politicians made erroneous remarks about Sino-Canadian relations and the situation with Canadian citizens Michael Covrig and Michael Spavor. The Chinese side expresses strong discontent and strongly opposes these statements”,  the document says.

 It says that relations between China and Canada recently "have encountered serious difficulties and the responsibility lies with the Canadian side."  "Attempting to oppose China with the help of" megaphone diplomacy "or exert pressure on China with unrelated [to the case of detained Canadians] issues is doomed to failure," the embassy emphasized.  The diplomatic mission also called on Ottawa to immediately release the fund director of Chinese company Huawei Meng Wanzhou.  "As regards the cases of Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spyvor, they are suspected of carrying out actions that threaten the national security of China. The investigation into their cases was completed and they were referred to the prosecutor's office for prosecution in accordance with legal procedures," the embassy said  .

 Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada had asked the United States not to sign a new trade agreement with China while the Chinese side was holding back two Canadian citizens.  Later, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Gen Shuang noted that Canada’s attempts to solve the problem of the detention of two citizens of this country by linking this issue to the problem of concluding a trade deal between China and the United States are doomed to failure.  To this, Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said that Chinese diplomats should not teach Ottawa how to conduct its foreign policy.

 In December 2018, diplomatic tensions arose between Ottawa and Beijing over the detention of Huawei CFO by Canadian law enforcement agencies.  Soon, Chinese authorities detained former Canadian diplomat Kovrig and the head of international non-governmental organization Spayvora.  Both Canadian citizens are accused of committing acts that threaten China’s national security.  Ottawa considers the detention of Canadian citizens illegal.