Two Canadian nationals have been released from Chinese detention and are flying home to Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced. Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were accused of espionage in 2018, shortly after Canadian police arrested a top Chinese tech executive on a US warrant. Two Canadian citizens who were detained by Beijing for more than 1,000 days have left Chinese airspace and will arrive back in Canada early on Saturday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Friday.
The detentions have sparked years of diplomatic tensions. Critics accused China of detaining the Canadians in retaliation for the arrest of Ms Meng, to use as political bargaining chips. Many countries labeled China’s action “hostage politics.” Beijing strongly denied this. Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were arrested in China in December 2018, shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and the daughter of the company’s founder, on a U.S. extradition request. The Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou, left Canada earlier today after a deal with US prosecutors. At a news conference, Mr Trudeau said that the Canadian citizens had been through “an unbelievably difficult ordeal.” Trudeau called a news conference Friday night about an hour after Meng’s plane left Canada for China. The arrangement with Meng, known as a deferred prosecution agreement, resolves a years long legal and geopolitical tussle that involved not only the U.S. and China but also Canada, where Meng has remained since she was arrested at Vancouver’s airport in December 2018.
In August this year a Chinese court sentenced Mr Spavor to 11 years in prison for espionage. There had been no decision in Mr Kovrig’s case. The deal was reached as President Joe Biden and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have sought to tamp down signs of public tension — even as the world’s two dominant economies are at odds on issues as diverse as cybersecurity, climate change, human rights and trade and tariffs.
