China and Canada appear no closer to resolving their difficulties despite the appointment of new ambassadors on both sides and a government reshuffle in Ottawa. Relations have been frosty over the past 12 months following the arrest of senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver and the subsequent detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in China. Canada’s new foreign minister, François-Philippe Champagne, described the release of the two Canadians as an “absolute priority” when he met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a G20 meeting in Japan over the weekend. But one Chinese government adviser warned that there was no sign that Beijing would change its position that Meng’s release was a “precondition” for improved relations. Meng, the tech giant’s chief financial officer, is fighting extradition to the United States, where she is wanted on fraud charges relating to alleged breaches of US sanctions on Iran. Spavor and Kovrig were both detained just two weeks after the arrest of Meng, and are being held in an undisclosed location, accused by the Chinese authorities of stealing state secrets. Canada’s new defence minister, Harjit Sajjan, echoed Champagne’s appeal , by calling for the pair’s release at a defence conference in Washington on Friday. Canada’s new ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, personally visited the two detained Canadians last month, soon after taking up his post the previous month. But China’s ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu, who was also appointed in September, repeated Beijing’s stance that Meng must be released. In a media interview on Friday he said that Meng’s release would help relations “return to the right path”. He also described her detention as “arbitrary” but insisted that the two Canadians had been “detained in accordance with Chinese law”. Shi Yinhong, a government adviser and professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said Meng’s release had been China’s top priority in its relationship with Canada since her arrest on December 1 last year. “There is no indication that the relationship between the two countries has seen any notable improvement. It seems that China is determined to keep the release of Meng Wanzhou as the precondition for any improvements with Canada,” Shi said. “China believes that if you do not release Meng Wanzhou, then nothing substantial can be attained.” He continued: “I tend not to make any further predictions on whether the relationship will improve, because China has not made any indication that they will abandon the precondition.”