China ‘faithfully carried out’ human rights obligations for ‘two Michaels’: Chinese ambassador

China says it has “faithfully carried out” its human rights obligation and agreements when it comes to Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, two Canadians who have been accused of spying by Beijing.

That’s what Cong Peiwu, China’s ambassador to Canada said Friday in an exclusive interview with OMNI News, when prompted to answer questions on the wellbeing of the two men who have been detained in China for over two-and-a-half-years.

When asked if China cares about the wellbeing of the men, also referred to as the “Two Michaels,” Peiwu said, “I think that we have provided everything that we can do to get their human rights.”

Referencing Canada’s relationship with China, Peiwu added, “When we talk about our battered relationship, we can’t just not overlook the Meng Wanzhou incident, which is our main obstacle in our balancing [of] relationship.”

Peiwu hopes Canada will “reflect on its mistakes,” and take steps to rectify them and release Wanzhou “as soon as possible.”

Peiwu would not directly say if either or both of the Michaels were vaccinated against COVID-19. Instead, he responded with, “We have taken all necessary steps to ensure their rights are protected.”

When pushed further, Peiwu said, “That’s the message I can share with you.”

And when asked for a third time, “I think that when we are talking about human rights, we do tell of goals included.”

Peiwu also believes this remains a hot topic for Canadians because Canadians do not understand the Chinese judicial system.

“China is a country with a rule of law and the relevant judicial organs are handling their cases in accordance with law in an independent way,” he said. “The two Canadians have been arrested and prosecuted because of suspect crimes in the national security of China. And our judicial organs are also providing those human rights to them. So when it comes to our consulate access, we have been honouring our commitments and obligation of revenant international convention and our actual agreement, and we will continue to do so in the future.”

However, Peiwu also says that Canada is in no position to criticize China over its human rights following news of residential school grave sites.

But there is room to work together.

“When it comes to China and Canada, we have a lot of things we can work [on] together, like on climate change, environmental protection and fighting the pandemic,” the ambassador said. “In all those areas, I think we have made a lot of extremes. And also in the areas of higher education, we are happy to see a lot of students coming to this way to Canada, and also a lot of Canadian students who like to visit China. That’s good — we like to encourage this kind of people-to-people [interaction]. So, I think there is a lot that we can learn from each other on the places of mutual expectations.”

Spavor (a business man) and Kovrig (a former diplmoat) have been detained in China since December 2018, an arrest that came just days after Canada arrested Wanzhou (an executive of China's Huawei) in Vancouver.