Mike Pompeo says US is pressing China to release detained Canadians, but rejects linkage to Huawei case
- US Secretary of State, meeting with Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland, calls the two cases ‘fundamentally different’
- Freeland deflects Beijing’s call to end ‘wanton criticism on Hong Kong’, saying ‘it is only natural and important for Canada to keep a close eye’
Washington’s No 1 diplomat said on Thursday that the US would continue to pressure China to end its “unlawful detention” of two Canadians held on espionage charges, but rejected suggestions that the US might end its extradition case against a Chinese executive in return for their release.
“While I can’t talk about everything that we’ve done, we’ve started with being immediately very clear about the inappropriate nature of this unlawful detention of these two Canadian citizens,” said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a joint news conference in Ottawa with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were detained in late 2018 and accused of acting together to steal trade secrets from China. Their arrests were widely seen as retaliation for the earlier arrest in Vancouver of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the US government, which is seeking to extradite her on fraud charges.
Pompeo noted that US President Donald Trump had raised the matter directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, when the two last met in Japan during the G20 sessions.
“He made unambiguous America’s concern about this inappropriate behaviour,” said Pompeo, adding that the US would continue to engage in other diplomatic activity on the Canadians’ behalf “until such time as they’re home and returned to their families.”