China blasts Ottawa and allies for hypocrisy over detained Canadians, calling Meng Wanzhou’s arrest ‘truly arbitrary’
- Spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry defends arrest of two Canadians while excoriating Canada and US for detaining Huawei Technologies CFO
China’s foreign ministry has blasted Canada and its allies for hypocrisy concerning their criticism of Beijing’s detention of two Canadian citizens, with a spokeswoman mimicking Ottawa to say that it was the arrest of Huawei Technologies CFO Sabrina Meng Wanzhou that “truly merits the name of arbitrary detention”.
At a ministry briefing in Beijing on Monday, spokeswoman Hua Chunying was asked about China’s detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, which Canada last week called “arbitrary” and in contrast to the “fair, unbiased and transparent” treatment of Meng, who had been arrested in Vancouver at the request of the US on December 1.
Hua let loose at the US, Britain and the EU for siding with Ottawa in the dispute, calling Meng’s detention “ugly”.
“I wonder how they are involved in this case? Where were their voices when the senior manager of the Chinese company was illegally detained by the Canadian side at the behest of the US?” asked Hua, in comments published in English on the ministry’s website.
“It is quite obvious that the human rights they are talking about have different standards when it comes to citizens of different countries.”
