Canada’s Trudeau stresses composure amid arrests in China

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government will maintain calm and take careful steps to secure the release of three Canadian citizens arrested in China.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Trudeau said “political posturing” would not work, amid a diplomatic dispute with China that started when a Chinese telecom executive was arrested in Vancouver on US-filed charges.

“Political posturing or political statements aren’t necessarily going to contribute. They might actually hinder Canadians’ release. We’re going to take every situation carefully and seriously,” Trudeau said at the presser.

On December 1, Canadian authorities arrested Chinese national Meng Wanzhou, 46, who is the deputy chairwoman of the board and chief financial officer (CFO) of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, in Vancouver, over her alleged violation of US sanctions against Iran.

Later, and over a fairly short period of time, Canada said three of its nationals had been arrested in China, but Ottawa never indicated that those arrests had been linked to Meng’s.

A former Canadian diplomat, Michael Kovrig, was arrested during a trip to the Chinese capital on December 10, when another Canadian national, Michael Spavor, a businessman based in the northern Chinese city of Dandong, was also detained. Canadian Ambassador to China John McCallum has already met with both.

Earlier on Wednesday, Canada’s National Post newspaper, citing the Canadian Foreign Ministry, reported that a third national had also been arrested in China. The Canadian government has not yet disclosed the identity of the third individual but the Canadian daily said the person was a Canadian woman teaching English in China and that she had been arrested because of “visa complications.”

Trudeau said in his Wednesday remarks that the situation needed careful handling.

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying confirmed the arrest of the third Canadian and identified her as Sarah McIver, saying she was serving “administrative punishment” due to “illegal employment.”

When asked if the third arrest was connected to the two previous ones, Hua said the nature of McIver’s arrest was different from those of Kovrig’s and Spavor’s.

“What I can tell you is that China and Canada are maintaining clear consular communication,” she further said at a daily news briefing.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Trudeau said he was asking Beijing for more information on the detentions, adding that the third case was “a very separate case” from the two previous ones.

SS