Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Photo: Xinhua

Pressuring China by forming cliques or connecting with other issues is doomed to fail, Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday, in response to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's remarks that urged the US to use trade talks with China as leverage to secure the freedom of two Canadians. 

"If you take chestnuts from the fire for others, you will eventually hurt yourself," Geng Shuang, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a routine press conference on Friday, quoting a Chinese idiom to refer to the situation of Canada sacrificing its own interests for the US' advantage.

Some reporters at the conference pushed for more explanations of the idiom, and kept asking Geng whether the idiom indicated "desperate" or "threat." Geng said repeatedly that he did not use the word "desperate" or "threat" in his response. 

And the person who is desperate knows well about it, Geng said. 

Two Canadian nationals were detained in China for suspected espionage activities in separate cases after Canada's arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at the request of the US.

In an interview with French-language TV network TVA aired on Thursday, Trudeau said Canada has asked the US to use ongoing trade talks with China as leverage in securing the release of the two Canadians.

We've said that the United States should not sign a final and complete agreement with China that does not settle the question of Meng Wanzhou and the two Canadians, Trudeau said in translated remarks.

As for the possible influence of Trudeau's remarks to trade talks, Geng said China's position on trade talks is consistent and clear. 

The phase one trade agreement reached between China and the US conforms with the interests of China, the US and the world, and it is also the common expectation of the international community, Geng said. 

Geng said that whoever started the trouble should end it, and that China urges the Canadian side to face up to China's solemn stance and concerns, correct its mistakes and immediately release Meng and guarantee her safe return to China.

The responsibility for the difficult situation in China-Canada relations lies entirely on the Canadian side, Geng said. 

As for the two Canadian citizens, they were suspected of engaging in activities that endangered China's national security, and the investigation of the cases has been transferred to the procuratorate organs for prosecution, Geng said. 

Michael John Kovrig is suspected of spying and stealing China's national secrets for foreign agents and was detained by the Beijing State Security Bureau, and Michael Spavor, who has been under investigation by the Dandong State Security Bureau in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, was suspected of stealing China's state secrets. 

Global Times