Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump discussed on the phone the issue of two Canadian citizens detained in China since late 2018 and to whom China granted rare consular access last Friday and Saturday, the Canadian government said.
Mr Dominic Barton, Canada's Ambassador to China, was granted virtual consular access to businessman Michael Spavor last Friday and to previous diplomat Michael Kovrig on Saturday, Ottawa said.
"The Canadian government remains deeply concerned by the arbitrary detention by the Chinese authorities of these two Canadians since December 2018 and continues to call for their immediate release," Global Affairs Canada, which manages the government's diplomatic and consular relations, said.
Mr Trudeau thanked Mr Trump in a phone call on Saturday for the United States' support in "seeking the immediate release of both Canadian citizens arbitrarily detained by China", the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement of the call.
The White House had no immediate comment concerning the call.
China arrested both Canadian citizens in late 2018 and afterwards charged them with espionage.
Their arrests came soon after Canada had arrested Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, on a US warrant. Relations between Canada and China have since been tense.
Washington's own tensions with Beijing have also increased recently over the handling of the coronavirus outbreak, the ongoing trade war between both countries, China's imposition of a national security law on Hong Kong and the subsequent end to Hong Kong's special status under American law by Mr Trump.
The Trump administration has restricted technology exports to Chinese companies, notably Huawei, citing national security risks. The company has denied such charges.
REUTERS