Tag Archives: Canadians
Detained Huawei executive spends Canada bail reading and painting as two Canadians denied lawyer in China
Meng Wangzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese phone company Huawei currently on bail in Canada as the US seeks to extradite her, has revealed that she spends her days reading, talking to colleagues and painting. US prosecutors say Ms Meng is linked to fraud that allowed Huawei to evade sanctions against Iran, and are attempting to have her moved to the US to face trial. She was arrested in Vancouver on 1 December 2018, one year before she published a ‘thank you’ message to supporters on Huawei’s website on Sunday. Ms Meng wrote that life on bail passed “so slow that I have enough time to read a book from cover to cover. "I can take the time to discuss minutiae with my colleagues or to carefully complete an oil painting.” The Huawei executive, whose detainment sparked a diplomatic row between Canada and China, is able to travel around Vancouver relatively freely outside her 11pm-6am curfew. She has been living in a £3.5 million, six-bedroom house, one of multiple properties she owns in the city. “While my personal freedoms have been limited, my soul still seeks to be free,” she wrote. “Amidst these setbacks, I've found light in the life around me… if a busy life has eaten away at my time, then hardship has in turn drawn it back out.” Business consultant Michael Spavor is one of two Canadians arrested by China after Ms Meng was detained Credit: WANG ZHAO/AFP/Getty Images Ms Meng’s lifestyle is in sharp contrast to that of two Canadians who were detained in China shortly after her arrest, in a move many saw as hostage diplomacy-style retaliation by Beijing. Michael Spavor, a consultant specialising in North Korea relations, and Michael Kovrig, an NGO worker and former diplomat, have been in a Chinese detention centre for a year. Last May they were charged with spying. The two men, who Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, said were being held in “arbitrary detention” for “political goals”, have reportedly been interrogated and held in rooms lit by artificial lighting 24 hours a day. They have reportedly been prevented from meeting with lawyers and family, and not allowed to go outdoors. In July Mr Kovrig’s reading glasses were allegedly confiscated by officials keeping watch over him. Ms Meng suggested that she enjoyed a more positive relationship with her guards. “After a whole night of heavy snow, the security company's staff were so considerate that they shoveled a path for my elderly mother, filling our hearts with warmth in this cold winter,” she wrote.
Pompeo meets Trudeau, says China detention of two Canadians 'wrong'
American officials are working to secure the release of two Canadians held by China, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday as he sat down with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The two Canadians — former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor — were detained in December and accused of espionage. The detention came nine days after Canada had arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a US warrant.
Canada praises 'grit' of Canadians detained in China
Canadian consular officials meet Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig on a monthly basis, and saw them both earlier this week, but the ministry does not offer any information about their condition for privacy reasons. “They are two brave Canadians who are facing a difficult situation through no fault of their own and they are conducting themselves with incredible grace and tenacity,” Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters in Calgary.
Release Jailed Canadians, China Experts Urge Xi in Open Letter
The group, including former U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke, ex-Hong Kong Governor Christopher Patten and five former Canadian ambassadors to China, released an open letter to the Chinese leader Tuesday urging the two men’s freedom. The letter said that Michael Kovrig, a Canadian diplomat on leave to work with the International Crisis Group in Hong Kong, and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur who helped organize tourist trips to North Korea, had advocated exchanges that help build ties around the globe.
U.S. Calls Canadian’s Death Sentence in China ‘Politically Motivated’
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, speaking to reporters near Montreal, said Canada is in a “difficult moment” after the arrest of a top Huawei Technologies Co. executive last month in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition request. Nine days after that, a Canadian diplomat and a businessman were seized separately by state security officers in China.
Ottawa seeks help for release of Canadians held in China
Canada’s top diplomat on Saturday called on allies for support in securing the release of Canadians detained in China, noting that the arrests are a “worrying precedent” for the entire international community. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said that China’s detention of former diplomat Michael Kovrig and consultant Michael Spavor is “not only a Canadian issue.
U.S. says China should free Canadians held after Huawei arrest
WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said China should free two Canadian citizens who were detained this week after authorities in Canada arrested a senior Chinese technology executive on a U.S. extradition warrant. Pompeo’s comments were the first by a senior U.S. official on the arrests, which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said could escalate a growing trade conflict between China and the United States.
2 Americans, 2 Canadians freed after kidnapping in Nigeria, police say
Two Americans, two Canadians freed after kidnapping in Nigeria: police
By Garba Muhammad KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) – Two Americans and two Canadians have been freed after being kidnapped in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna, a police spokesman said on Saturday, as it emerged that five oil workers had been abducted in the southern Niger Delta region. The Americans and Canadians were ambushed by unknown gunmen on Wednesday while traveling from the town of Kafanchan in Kaduna state to the capital, Abuja.
Canadians support legalized pot but doubts linger: poll
Polling released Thursday showed strong support in Canada for a government drive to legalize recreational use of marijuana, but many would like the proposed minimum age for consumption to be raised. Sixty-three percent of respondents told the Angus Reid Institute they support legalization. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration unveiled legislation on April 13 to fully legalize pot by mid-2018.