{"id":194925,"date":"2018-12-23T00:05:39","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T05:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=194925"},"modified":"2018-12-23T00:05:39","modified_gmt":"2018-12-23T05:05:39","slug":"canada-to-embark-on-campaign-to-win-release-of-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/12\/23\/canada-to-embark-on-campaign-to-win-release-of-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada to embark on campaign to win release of citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\u201cWe’re going to keep working with a broad group of allies to raise this issue,\u201d she said, noting that Canadian ambassadors will be reaching out to governments across the world. (File Photo<\/a>: Chrystia Freeland\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Saturday that Canada will embark on a campaign to win the release of two citizens detained by China in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a top Chinese tech executive.<\/p>\n

Freeland said on a conference call with reporters that the arrests constitute a worrying precedent that has resonated with partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re going to keep working with a broad group of allies to raise this issue,\u201d she said, noting that Canadian ambassadors will be reaching out to governments across the world.<\/p>\n

Freeland said she spoke with China’s ambassador to Ottawa on Friday and made Canada’s first demand for the immediate release of Canadian ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor. The U.S., the U.K. and the EU also issued statements in support of Canada.<\/p>\n

Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese
\ntelecommunications giant Huawei, was arrested while changing planes
\nin Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States, which
\nwants her extradited to face charges that she and her company misled
\nbanks about the company’s business dealings in Iran.<\/p>\n

Nine days later, the Chinese detained Kovrig and Spavor on vague allegations of \u201cengaging in activities that endanger the national security\u201d of China.<\/p>\n

Freeland’s declarations mark a harsher tone from officials. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been criticized by the Opposition for his largely muted response and for not phoning his Chinese counterpart.<\/p>\n

Freeland said that that Canada is honouring its extradition treaty with the United States and emphasized that Canada is a country based on the rule of law that has freed Meng on bail. \u201cShe has been given absolute access to due process and the independent Canadian judicial system,\u201d Freeland said. \u201cThat is how Canada operates.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, the U.S. State Department reiterated a call for the Canadians’ release made by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.<\/p>\n

U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement the U.K. is confident that Canada is respecting its extradition treaty with the U.S. and said he is \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d that China may have detained the two Canadians for political reasons. The EU, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that the \u201cdeclared motive\u201d for their detention \u201craises concerns about legitimate research and business practices in China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freeland thanked allies for speaking out.<\/p>\n

The show of support from allies is significant for Canada, which has felt relatively isolated in recent months. In August, Saudi Arabia expelled Canada’s ambassador to the kingdom and withdrew its own ambassador after Canada’s foreign ministry tweeted support for an arrested Saudi activist.<\/p>\n

The Saudis also sold Canadian investments and ordered their citizens studying in Canada to leave. No country, including the U.S., spoke out publicly in support of Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Saturday that Canada will embark on a campaign to win the release …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":180907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-rob-gillies","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}