The release of two Canadian hostages by China has ended a lengthy feud between the two countries, but experts caution the saga foreshadows a deepening rift between the two nations. After facing charges of espionage and spending more than 1,000 days in detention, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were set free by Chinese authorities late last week. Accompanied by Canada’s ambassador to China, the pair arrived home early on Saturday morning. The two had been detained after Canada’s arrest of the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who also arrived home after she and the US justice department reached a deferred prosecution agreement. Canada, China and US were all doomed to lose in Meng Wanzhou’s case Read more The surprise releases ended an impasse that tested the diplomatic resolve of Canada, which found itself caught in the middle of a broader feud between Beijing and Washington. But experts caution that China’s increasingly hardline approach – and the brazenness with which it was willing to engage in “hostage diplomacy” – should be taken as a warning to other nations. “China was sending a message not just to Canada, but to every other country in the world that they take hostages. And if you step out of line from their policies or don’t toe the line the way Beijing has instructed you to do, then they will take retaliatory action and kidnap your citizens,” said Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s graduate school of public and international affairs. “This is the behaviour of a medieval kingdom – not a 2021 superpower.”https://wakelet.com/@Venom2fullmovieonlineHD https://wakelet.com/@Venom2fullmovieonlineHD https://wakelet.com/wake/vspJ90kEH7HDbxV5mZqqc https://wakelet.com/wake/GWHZcvC3V8-BHmB3Uxjp3 https://wakelet.com/wake/M_jJB4Vmex4op_CJHAdYP https://wakelet.com/wake/aU31y4jaOBEQeJCyNUUDg https://wakelet.com/wake/OI9VF7F5xSH6UpOCCQqsS https://wakelet.com/wake/1EYPQqWl-7U04sulhK5Y9 https://wakelet.com/wake/JIlqRlyy-lxgqC1nfuizD https://wakelet.com/wake/-2sHA8bTvlL-EB850Z9p5 https://wakelet.com/wake/nwgIxtcmYELJCRzh8Y3iJ https://wakelet.com/wake/i_Lm7_HbLQsW-jZ_LuJ4D https://wakelet.com/wake/PWw8Iy7M2-bGVBqS56CLB https://wakelet.com/wake/P1gfL5vtS4-WlMIYrIFV2 https://wakelet.com/wake/LJxF4UirlNtK5gnkULi7z https://wakelet.com/wake/y9NbgAttXE4Rt7-8ksemm https://wakelet.com/wake/yQt8u5QIlruzUFY8gv1JG https://wakelet.com/wake/QmlEjMVrLIcXzpKYctIxK https://wakelet.com/wake/WKU_vzaIISKHMkMv6ChJI https://wakelet.com/wake/Y72grV20xweRnx8OIFgrt https://wakelet.com/wake/BWoVZgvr3utpyaD6pZGah https://wakelet.com/wake/Xx-uk3WqmwP3YcIA2Wh79 https://wakelet.com/wake/lwU1QQmRD4N3H7-ssoxs7 https://wakelet.com/wake/3fgcGMxvdTe7K414FuvYp https://wakelet.com/wake/VpwIZjzh10cgXPP0puFV4 https://wakelet.com/wake/nhb4sO-67BSGocAAUM65u https://wakelet.com/wake/qelJ0OiVzU72eKN3AFYL1 https://wakelet.com/wake/b0SH0veJlLG4HGF2W3XLa https://wakelet.com/wake/Xdhj6cUXpTmI1nwDWevNw https://wakelet.com/wake/zMSe_Y_i1fyCfHePDNfth https://wakelet.com/wake/7C20V7Nbu2FkjzxReyMrV Beijing has maintained the arrest of the Canadians was unconnected to Meng, but it has suggested their fates were linked. Beijing gave no legal explanation for the Canadians’ release or the timing of it, only later saying the two men had applied for and been granted bail on unspecified “medical grounds”. Michael Kovrig waves to the media with his wife and sister after arriving in Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on 25 September 2021. Michael Kovrig waves to the media with his wife and sister after arriving in Toronto’s Pearson international airport on 25 September. Photograph: Frank Gunn/AP The detention of Meng was “a political frame-up and persecution against a Chinese citizen, an act designed to hobble Chinese hi-tech companies”, said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Monday. “Canada should draw lessons and act in ways that serve its own interests.” In China the focus has been squarely on Meng. State media coverage of the hero’s welcome barely – if at all – mentioned the Canadians’ cases, and discussions on social media were quickly censored. As she arrived on a chartered jet to a red carpet and welcome home messages on Shenzhen’s tallest skyscraper, the executive’s return was credited to the “unremitting efforts” of the Chinese Communist party government. Before Canada found itself the target of China’s outrage, the two countries had been on the verge of negotiating a free trade agreement. Canadian companies, spurned by protectionist measures in the US under Donald Trump, had been eager to find new markets for their heavy oil, metallurgical coal, timber and agricultural products. But Ottawa’s refusal to cave to demands for Meng’s release makes it difficult for the two countries to move forward in normalising relations, said McCuaig-Johnson. A crowd holds up a banner reading ‘Welcome home, Ms Meng Wanzhou’ at Shenzhen’s Bao’an international airport on 25 September. A crowd holds up a banner reading ‘Welcome home, Ms Meng Wanzhou’ at Shenzhen’s Bao’an international airport on 25 September. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock “Canada wasn’t seen as giving China what it wanted,” she said. “As a result, Canada is still likely to be frozen out of a lot of activities in China.” Advertisement The headaches Canadian companies might face in the coming months come against the backdrop of President Xi Jinping’s recent moves to reshape China’s economy and his government’s aggressive approach to foreign technology companies.