Canada was one of the first Western countries to recognize communist China, establishing ties in 1970 under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

China has dismissed Canada’s protests of harsh sentences Chinese courts handed to Canadians whose cases are seen as linked to the arrest of a top executive at Chinese tech giant Huawei.

A Chinese court has sentenced a Canadian entrepreneur to 11 years in prison in a spying case that has been linked to Beijing’s pressure campaign against Canada's government.

(AP Photo/Ken Moritsugu)DANDONG – China on Friday put on trial one of two Canadians held for more than two years in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a senior Chinese telecom executive. Canada said its consular officials were refused permission to attend the proceedings against Michael Spavor, who is accused by China of stealing state secrets. Jim Nickel, the Canadian Embassy’s deputy chief of mission, said the hearing ended at noon Friday after two hours. International and bilateral treaties required that China provide Canadian diplomats access to the trial, but the court said Chinese law regarding trials on state security charges overrode such obligations, Nickel said. Prosecutors have not released details of the charges and national security cases are routinely held behind closed doors.

FILE - In this file image made from March 28, 2018, video, Michael Kovrig, an adviser with the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based non-governmental organization, speaks during an interview in Hong Kong. A Communist Party newspaper says China will soon begin trials for two Canadians, Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were arrested in December 2018 in apparent retaliation for Canadas detention of a senior executive for Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies. (AP Photo, File)BEIJING – A Communist Party newspaper says China will soon begin trials for two Canadians who were arrested two years ago in apparent retaliation for Canada’s detention of a senior executive for Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies. The Global Times said Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor “will soon be tried" after they were charged with “crimes undermining China’s national security” in June 2020. Hearings have been delayed because of COVID-19 prevention measures but the court will “push forward the trial soon," the newspaper said.

China lashed out at Canada on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 for joining the U.S. and 56 other countries in endorsing a declaration denouncing state-sponsored arbitrary detention of foreign citizens for political purposes. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)BEIJING – China lashed out at Canada on Thursday for joining the U.S. and 56 other countries in endorsing a declaration denouncing state-sponsored arbitrary detention of foreign citizens for political purposes. Ad“Canada’s so-called declaration looks more like a confession in which the Canadian side admits its mistake in the Meng Wanzhou case," Hua said. China says it has charged Kovrig and Spavor with endangering national security, but little is known about the accusations. In detention, they have been allowed only occasional visits from Canadian diplomats while Meng resides in one of her Vancouver mansions under a loose form of house arrest.

FILE - In this March 28, 2018, file image made from video, Michael Kovrig, an adviser with the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based non-governmental organization, speaks during an interview in Hong Kong. China said Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020, it remains firm in its insistence that Canada make the first move to end the detention of two Canadians, following a meeting of the two countries' foreign ministers. (AP Photo, File)BEIJING China said Wednesday it remains firm in its insistence that Canada make the first move to end the detention of two Canadians, following a meeting of the two countries' foreign ministers. Since her detention, China has also sentenced four Canadians convicted on drug charges to death, an unusually high number for foreign suspects held in China. The offering of Meng Wanzhou in exchange for Kovrig and Spavor is the only answer," Pardy wrote in the opinion piece.