China tells Trudeau to stop ‘irresponsible remarks’ on charges against two Canadians

The two prisoners in question—Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor—have been in Chinese detention since December of 2018. Those arrests, which followed the arrest of Huawei tech-royalty Meng Wanzhou, led to what China's ambassador to Canada called a "diplomatic rock bottom."

The foreign ministry spokesperson said that the spying charges were completely unrelated from the Meng Wanzhou case, Global News reports.

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, sometimes called "the two Michaels," had charges announced against them only days after a Canadian judge allowed Meng's extradition case to continue, which put her one step closer to seeing charges in the United States.

On Friday, Trudeau said that he was "disappointed" in Beijing's decision to charge the pair, saying that the charges were "directly linked" to the case, and that the detention was "arbitrary."

“There is no such thing as arbitrary detention,” said the ministry spokesman in response to Trudeau's comments.

“China urges the relevant Canadian leader to earnestly respect the spirit of the rule of law, respect China’s judicial sovereignty and stop making irresponsible remarks," he said.

Zhao argued that the Meng case is apart of a US-led effort to "suppress Chinese high tech enterprises and Huawei," with Canada "[playing] the role of an accomplice."

“China urges the relevant Canadian leader to earnestly respect the spirit of the rule of law, respect China’s judicial sovereignty and stop making irresponsible remarks,” Zhao said.