'Trump Raised Issue Of Detained Canadians With XI'

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said overnight on Tuesday that he was "confident" US President Donald Trump brought up Canadians held by Beijing during talks with President Xi Jinping.

Trudeau said he'd spoken to Xi about the detained Canadians – ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig, who was based in Hong Kong, and consultant Michael Spavor – during brief, informal exchanges on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan last week.

Mainland authorities arrested the two Canadians on suspicion of espionage and blocked imports of Canadian agricultural products.

This came soon after Meng Wanzhou, a top official in China's telecom giant Huawei, was arrested in Vancouver at the behest of the United States for allegedly circumventing sanctions on Iran.

But the mainland authorities have denied the arrest of Kovrig and Spavor is unrelated to the Huawei executive's detention.

Ahead of the summit, Trudeau asked Trump to raise the issue of the detained Canadians with Xi when they met at the summit. Trump reportedly said that he would do what he could.

"I'm confident the Americans brought up the issue, President Trump brought up the issue, of the detained Canadians in China," said Trudeau, speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"This is an issue we take extremely seriously," said Trudeau, adding that he has had many conversations with Xi "on this and the larger issue of Canada and China relations".

Trudeau said that Canada is "pleased that so many countries around the world, allies, friends, others have highlighted to China that the situation that these Canadians find themselves in is unacceptable".