UPDATE 1-ICG says no information from China on detention of Canadian employee

The Canadian government said it saw no explicit link to the Huawei case.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Wednesday it had received no information from Chinese officials on the detention of its employee, former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig, and said it was seeking consular access to him.

ICG, a policy forum focused on conflict resolution, said in a statement sent to Reuters Kovrig was detained by state security officials in Beijing on Monday night.

His detention, first reported by Reuters, came after police in Canada arrested the chief financial officer of China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd on Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities, a move that has infuriated Beijing.

Neither China's Foreign Ministry nor Ministry of Public Security has responded to requests for comment. China's Ministry of State Security has no publicly available contact details.

The Canadian government said it saw no explicit link to the Huawei case.

However, Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada's former ambassador to China, was asked by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp on Tuesday whether the Kovrig detention was a coincidence. "In China there are no coincidences ... If they want to send you a message they will send you a message," he said.

China had threatened severe consequences unless Canada released Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou immediately and analysts have said retaliation from Beijing over the arrest was likely.

The U.S. State Department was considering issuing a travel warning for its citizens, two sources said on Tuesday. The Canadian government was considering issuing a similar warning, Canada's CTV network reported.

Reuters was not able to confirm the report.

Meng was granted bail by a Canadian court late on Tuesday, 10 days after her arrest in Vancouver on U.S. claims that she misled multinational banks about Iran-linked transactions sparked a diplomatic dispute.