'Mainland Formally Arrests Detained Canadians'

The mainland has formally arrested two Canadians who have been detained for months on national security grounds, Canada's The Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Thursday, in a case that has inflamed tensions between Ottawa and Beijing.

A Canadian government source told the daily that neither Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat who was based in Hong Kong, nor Michael Spavor, a China-based businessman who organised trips to North Korea, have been formally charged.

"Canada strongly condemns their arbitrary arrest as we condemned their arbitrary detention on December 10," the Canadian foreign ministry said in a statement to the newspaper.

Chinese official media have accused Korvig, an Asia expert at the International Crisis Group, of acting with Canadian businessman Michael Spavor to steal state secrets.

Both were arrested on December 10 after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on December 1 at the request of US authorities who want her extradited to face fraud charges.

Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei Technologies’ founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, is currently on bail. She was allowed to shift to her second home in an upscale neighbourhood earlier this month and is guarded by private security guards that she is paying for.

Meanwhile, a group of Canadian parliamentarians had earlier complained to Chinese officials that Kovrig and Spavor have been denied access to lawyers, and remain in "completely unacceptable" detention conditions. (AFP)