Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that detention of a third Canadian citizen by the Chinese authorities is not linked with the previous detainments, where the detainees were "accused of serious crimes".
"We've only got the preliminary indications ... that it's not linked to a matter of national security for the Chinese. The two situations are very different. The allegations of national security problems, even objectively, are very different from a routine case or a problem with a visa or something of that nature," CBC quoted Trudeau as saying at a year-end conference on Wednesday (local time).
He further mentioned that Canada is looking into the arrests.
The Prime Minister's Office confirmed that the third detainee was working as a teacher in China and is a female. Global Affairs Canada, on the other hand, refused to divulge any details regarding the third case to protect her privacy.
The Chinese arrests of the other two Canadians came in the wake of Canada detaining Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who is currently out on bail after five people pledged to secure a bail amount of USD 2.2 million on December 11. Furthermore, Meng's husband, Liu Xiaozong has pledged a further USD 7 million in cash, according to the South China Morning Post. She is awaiting extradition proceedings in Canada as she is wanted for fraud by the USA.
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