Newspaper: China to soon try 2 Canadians on spying charges

BEIJING (AP) — A Communist Party newspaper says China will soon begin trials for two Canadians arrested in apparent retaliation for Canada’s detention of a senior executive for Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies. The Global Times says Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were charged with “crimes undermining China’s national security” and “will soon be tried.” Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Spavor, an entrepreneur, were arrested in December 2018, days after Meng Wanzhou was detained at Vancouver airport. The U.S. wants her extradited to face fraud charges. The Communist Party newspaper gave no details of the timing or location of the trials and cited a “source close to the matter” whom it did not further identify.