OTTAWA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu voiced his hope that China-Canada relations could get back on track here on Friday.
Cong, who presented his credentials to Canadian Governor General Julie Payette in early November, said the current difficulty in the China-Canada relationship resulted from the handling of Meng Wanzhou's case by Canada at a press conference held at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa.
"We urge the Canadian side to take our real concern and position very seriously, release Meng and let her come back to China safely, so as to create conditions for the bilateral relations to return to the normal track," said the ambassador.
Cong pointed out that the case of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two Canadians who were arrested in China, and the case of Meng, chief financial officer of Chinese technology company Huawei who was arbitrarily detained in Vancouver, "are very much different in nature."
He stressed that Meng's case is a very serious political incident caused by the United States, and Canada has abused the extradition treaty between Canada and the United States by arbitrarily detaining Meng.
"This incident has led to very severe difficulties the two countries are facing nowadays," said the ambassador.
Cong said the Chinese competent authorities have arrested Kovrig and Spavor according to Chinese law as they were engaged in suspected activities endangering national security of China.
Kovrig has been charged with secretly gathering state secrets and intelligence for foreign forces, while Spavor has been charged with stealing and illegally providing state secrets to foreign forces.
