China sets court hearings for two Canadians charged with spying

OTTAWA/BEIJING, March 19 ------ Two Canadians detained by Beijing more than two years ago on suspicion of espionage will go before Chinese courts this week and next, Canada said on Wednesday, again ramping up diplomatic tension between Ottawa and Beijing. China arrested the men in December 2018 soon after Canadian police detained Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, on a U.S. warrant. She is under house arrest in Vancouver as she fights extradition to the United States.

“Our embassy in Beijing has been notified that court hearings for Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are scheduled to take place on March 19 and March 22, respectively,” Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement. “We believe these detentions are arbitrary, and remain deeply troubled by the lack of transparency surrounding these proceedings.” China has a conviction rate of well over 99%, and public and media access to trials in sensitive cases is typically limited.

Beijing insists the detentions are not linked to Meng’s arrest. News of the trial dates comes on the eve of talks between top U.S. and Chinese officials in Alaska, the first such high-level meeting since U.S. President Joe Biden took office. On Thursday, China’s foreign ministry declined during a regular daily briefing to confirm the trial dates but said the hearings are not linked to the Alaska talks. “The trials have nothing to do with China-U.S. high level strategic dialogue,” said ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.

Source: reuters.com