Advertisement
Singapore markets closed
  • Straits Times Index

    3,224.01
    -27.70 (-0.85%)
     
  • Nikkei

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • Hang Seng

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • Bitcoin USD

    70,757.64
    +1,213.20 (+1.74%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,254.35
    +5.86 (+0.11%)
     
  • Dow

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • Nasdaq

    16,379.46
    -20.06 (-0.12%)
     
  • Gold

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • Crude Oil

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.2060
    +0.0100 (+0.24%)
     
  • FTSE Bursa Malaysia

    1,530.60
    -7.82 (-0.51%)
     
  • Jakarta Composite Index

    7,288.81
    -21.28 (-0.29%)
     
  • PSE Index

    6,903.53
    +5.36 (+0.08%)
     

U.S. says China should free Canadians held after Huawei arrest

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference after the U.S.-Canada ministerial meeting at the State Department in Washington, U.S., December 14, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Young (Reuters)

By Lesley Wroughton and David Ljunggren WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said China should free two Canadian citizens who were detained this week after authorities in Canada arrested a senior Chinese technology executive on a U.S. extradition warrant. Pompeo's comments were the first by a senior U.S. official on the arrests, which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said could escalate a growing trade conflict between China and the United States. "The unlawful detention of two Canadian citizens is unacceptable," Pompeo told reporters after Washington talks with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. "They ought to be returned. ... We ask all nations of the world to treat other citizens properly." Canadian officials were granted consular access on Friday to one of the two detainees in China and are still trying to contact the second, the Foreign Ministry said. China detained the two - businessman Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, an adviser with the International Crisis Group and a former diplomat - after Canadian police arrested Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's [HWT.UL] chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, on Dec 1. U.S. prosecutors accuse Meng of misleading multinational banks about Iran-linked transactions, putting the banks at risk of violating U.S. sanctions. Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei's founder, has said she is innocent. Potentially complicating the case, President Donald Trump made comments this week that legal experts say may have undermined the U.S. basis for extradition. Freeland, asked about the remarks, said, "We all agree that the most important thing we can do is to uphold the rule of law, ensure that Ms. Meng's right to due process is respected and that the current judicial process in Canada remains apolitical." Trudeau, in his strongest comments on the matter to date, said China's detention of the two men was "not acceptable." China rejects Trudeau's insistence that the government cannot interfere with the judiciary. Meng was released on bail this week but has to remain in Canada. "This is one of the situations you get in when the two largest economies in the world, China and the United States, start picking a fight with each other," Trudeau told City TV in Toronto. "The escalating trade war between them is going to have all sorts of unintended consequences on Canada, potentially on the entire global economy. We're very worried about that," he said. Lu Shaye, China's ambassador to Canada, on Friday told a university conference that the prospects for deeper business ties were good despite the dispute. He declined to comment when pressed by reporters about Trudeau's remarks. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton and David Ljunggren; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali and David Alexander in Washington; editing by Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler)