Trudeau Says Canada Will Stand Up for Itself With China

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will continue speak its mind with China on contentious issues, including Hong Kong's autonomy and the fate of two detainees.

His comments come on the heels of Beijing bristling at a provincial court ruling that allows extradition hearings to continue against a top executive at state-championed Huawei Technologies Co.

The Chinese embassy decried the Supreme Court of British Columbia decision in the case of Meng Wanzhou, the Shenzhen-based tech giant's chief financial officer, “a grave political incident.”

Trudeau, asked Friday at a daily coronavirus briefing in Ottawa if he was afraid of President Xi Jinping, said his government has “put Canadian interests and Canadian principles at the forefront of everything we do around the world, including with China.”

That includes “expressing our concern for the two Canadians arbitrarily detained in China” and continuing “to highlight our concerns around Hong Kong,” he said.

In the weeks that followed Meng's 2018 arrest in Vancouver on a U.S. request, Beijing detained former diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor on national security grounds.

On Thursday, Canada joined the U.S., U.K. and Australia in condemning China's new legislation on the rule of law in Hong Kong, which the four countries say undermines the city-state's autonomy.

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