Canadian officials 2nd meet with detained national in China after Huawei row

Canadian diplomats in China on Thursday held their second meeting with one of two citizens who was detained last month after the arrest of a senior Chinese executive in Vancouver, the Canadian foreign ministry said. "Today, Canadian consular officials in China visited with Michael Kovrig," the ministry said in a statement that provided no further details. Officials met Michael Spavor, the other man, on Tuesday.

Canadian authorities arrested Huawei Technologies Co-Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on Dec. 1 on a U.S. extradition warrant. Beijing denounced the move and threatened reprisals unless the case against Meng was dropped.

In a newspaper editorial published on Wednesday, Lu Shaye, China's ambassador to Ottawa, accused Canada of "double standards" which he said were caused by "western egotism and white supremacy." Although Canada says China has made no specific link between the detentions and Meng's arrest, experts and former diplomats say they have no doubt Beijing is using the cases of the two men to pressure Ottawa.