China says 2 Canadians freed for health reasons

China said on Monday that two Canadians who were detained in late 2019 who were allowed to return to Canada in a prisoner swap were released on bail for health reasons.

A ministry spokesperson made the comment as Beijing sought to downplay the connection between their release and the return to China of a long-detained executive of Huawei Technologies.

"The case of Meng Wanzhou is completely different from that of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in nature," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a daily briefing on Monday.

China released the two Canadians on bail after a "diagnosis by professional medical institutions, and with the guarantee of the Canadian ambassador to China," Hua said.

Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were detained in December 2019, days after Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Canada at the request of U.S. authorities.

Many countries labeled China's action "hostage politics," while China accused Ottawa of arbitrary detention. The two Canadians were jailed for more than 1,000 days.

Meng fought the U.S. demand for extradition from Canada. She landed in China on Saturday after reaching a deal with the U.S. Justice Department that led to a prisoner swap.

Hua said she is "happy" about her return and gave credits to the government's "unrelenting efforts."

Hua did not answer questions from journalists about whether the prisoner releases were entirely unrelated and what the health reasons were.

Huawei is the biggest global supplier of network gear for phone and internet companies. It has been a symbol of China's progress in becoming a technological world power — and a subject of U.S. security and law enforcement concerns.

Hua went on to stress that China's government was a force to be reckoned with, saying that "no force can hold back China's development".

IMAGE: AP