BEIJING – China confirmed Thursday that it has detained two Canadian men, raising the stakes in a three-way dispute over a Chinese technology executive facing possible extradition from Canada to the United States.
Entrepreneur Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig were taken into custody Monday on suspicion of “engaging in activities that endanger the national security” of China, said foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang.
FILE – In this Dec. 19, 2013, file photo, Michael Spavor, center, an entrepreneur, is seen with former NBA star Dennis Rodman, left, on the arrival at the capital airport for a flight to North Korea, in Beijing, China. A second Canadian man has gone missing in China and is feared detained in what appears to be retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a top executive of telecommunications giant Huawei, Canadian authorities said late Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. Canada’s Global Affairs department identified its missing citizen as Spavor, an entrepreneur who is one of the only Westerners to have ever met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Spavor’s disappearance follows China’s detention of a former Canadian diplomat in Beijing earlier this week.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)Lu said Canada was informed but declined to say whether the men have been provided with lawyers. He said the cases are being handled separately by local bureaus of the national intelligence agency in Beijing, where Kovrig was picked up, and the northeastern city of Dandong, where Spavor lived.
“The legal rights of the two Canadians are being safeguarded,” Lu told reporters at a daily briefing.
The two cases ratchet up pressure on Canada, which is holding Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Ltd. She was arrested Dec. 1 at the request of the United States, which wants her extradited to face bank fraud charges.