Two Canadians detained in late 2019 who were allowed to return to Canada in a prisoner exchange were released on bail for health reasons, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
A ministry spokesman made the comment as Beijing sought to downplay the connection between its release and the return to China of a long-detained Huawei Technologies executive.
Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were arrested in December 2019, days after Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada at the request of US authorities.
Many countries called China’s action a “hostage policy”, while China accused Ottawa of arbitrary detention. The two Canadians were jailed for more than 1,000 days.
Meng fought the American extradition demand from Canada. He landed in China on Saturday after reaching a deal with the US Justice Department that led to a prisoner swap.
“Meng Wanzhou’s case is completely different from Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in nature,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in a daily briefing on Monday.
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The two men were suspected of endangering national security, Hua said.
Spavor, a businessman, had been sentenced to 11 years in prison, charged with espionage. Korvrig had not yet been sentenced, but faced similar charges.
China released the two Canadians on bail after a “diagnosis by professional medical institutions, and with the guarantee of the Canadian ambassador to China,” Hua said.
Hua did not respond to journalists ‘questions about whether the prisoners’ releases were unrelated and what the health reasons were.
A spokesperson for the Canadian embassy in Beijing directed questions to Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa.
China: 2 Canadians in exchange of prisoners released for health reasons. #CDNPoli #TwoMichaels #China
Meng reached an agreement with US federal prosecutors that he will drop the fraud charges against him next year. In return, she accepts responsibility for misrepresenting the company’s business in Iran.
His return to China was transmitted live on the country’s central station, CCTV, while wearing a red dress in the shadow of the Chinese flag and thanking the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, and the ruling Communist Party.
On Monday, Hua said that Meng was the victim of “political persecution” and was able to return to China thanks to the “tireless efforts of the government.”
In contrast, the news about the release of the two Michael was reported by the state tabloid Global Times, and although the news was spread online, it was not carried by more authoritative state media agencies such as CCTV or Xinhua.
Huawei is the world’s largest provider of network equipment for telephone and Internet companies. It has been a symbol of China’s progress to become a world tech powerhouse, and a subject of US security and law enforcement concerns.
The administration of former President Donald Trump cut off Huawei’s access to US components and technology, including Google Music and other smartphone services, and then banned suppliers around the world from using the technology from USA to produce components for Huawei.
Associated Press video producer Liu Zheng contributed to this report.
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com