China has arrested a third Canadian amid a diplomatic spat between Beijing and Ottawa over the arrest of a Chinese telecom executive, a Canadian official said Wednesday.
China has arrested a third Canadian amid a diplomatic spat between Beijing and Ottawa over the arrest of a Chinese telecom executive, a Canadian official said Wednesday.
“Global Affairs Canada is aware of a Canadian citizen detained in China,” ministry spokeswoman Maegan Graveline told AFP, without providing further details.
A government source said “there is no reason to believe that this case is linked to (two) other recent cases of Canadians detained in China.”
Earlier Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing that she had “not heard” about the detention, first reported by Canada’s National Post.
A recent portrait of Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou
-, Huawei.com/AFP
The recent detentions of a Canadian former diplomat and a Canadian entrepreneur have raised suspicions that Beijing is holding them in retaliation for Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou’s December 1 arrest, though no link has officially been made between the cases.
Meng was released on bail last week in Vancouver pending a US extradition hearing on US fraud charges related to sanctions-breaking business dealings with Iran.
China has accused the other detainees — former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and China-based business consultant Michael Spavor — of activities “that endanger China’s national security” — a phrase often used by Beijing when alleging espionage.
They were both detained on December 10.
