U.S. President Joe Biden discussed the issue of "arbitrary detention" of two Canadian citizens with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday. During a phone call, the leaders addressed the detention by Beijing of former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian businessman Michael Spavor, both of whom have been held on charges of espionage for two years. Trudeau's office stated that "the Prime Minister and President discussed China's arbitrary detention of Canadian citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig," adding that "the two leaders agreed on the urgent need for their immediate release."
The two men were reportedly detained in response to Canada's arrest of Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou based on a U.S. extradition warrant against her. A statement from Biden's office noted that Spavor and Kovrig were "wrongfully detained," indicating that the U.S. President condemned their detention during the phone call and "reiterated his commitment to stand firmly with Canada in securing their release." Ottawa has considered their detention a form of pressure related to the Huawei executive case.
The two men appeared in court for the first time in March of this year, in sessions that ended quickly. Meng (49 years old) is scheduled to appear in a Canadian court on Wednesday for a final round of hearings regarding her potential extradition to the United States after nearly three years of legal battles and diplomatic disputes. If extradited to the U.S. and subsequently convicted, she could face a prison sentence of over 30 years. Both the Chinese government and Huawei, the world's largest supplier of telecommunications network equipment, have continuously denied the U.S. allegations. Beijing claims that the primary goal of Washington in pursuing Meng is to weaken Chinese technology companies, describing the whole case as a "serious political incident."
