Canada Steps Up Pressure Over Detained Pair

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed on Tuesday to keep the pressure on Beijing as a Canadian parliamentary delegation in China sought the release of two Canadians held as spies.

"China is making stronger moves than it has before to try to get its own way on the world stage and Western countries and democracies around the world are pointing out (that) this is not something we need to continue to allow," Trudeau told reporters.

Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor were detained after the arrest on December 1 of a top Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver on a US warrant.

Beijing has said it suspects Hong Kong-based Kovrig, who works for the International Crisis Group think tank, of espionage and alleged that Spavor had provided him with intelligence.

Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said earlier that her parliamentary secretary Rob Oliphant and a delegation of lawmakers had gone to China to push for the two Canadians' freedom.

They arrived in Shanghai on Monday and were expected to remain in China until Saturday. It was not immediately known who they were meeting.

"Rob has been raising the case of the detained Canadians. That is really important for the Chinese to be hearing directly from us," Freeland told public broadcaster CBC.

Freeland said she had sought a meeting with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to no avail. (AFP)