Two Michaels to be guests at Biden-Trudeau dinner

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Two Canadian citizens whose detention in China sparked an international firestorm will be guests during President Joe Biden’s visit to Ottawa on Friday, a nod to the solidarity between the U.S. and Canada over rising tensions with Beijing.

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Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were detained for nearly three years in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a Huawei Technologies Co. executive, will attend Biden’s speech to Parliament and the dinner being hosted for the U.S. president by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau afterward, three people familiar with the plans said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The case of the men, known as the “Two Michaels,” was seen in Canada as tantamount to hostage-taking and led to calls for both the U.S. and Canadian governments to adopt a more confrontational tone in their relations with Beijing.

The presence of Kovrig and Spavor at the speech and dinner, during the first bilateral visit by a U.S. president to Ottawa in 14 years, is a blaring signal to China that the U.S. and Canada believe the men were illegitimately detained and underscores the rising tensions between the two allies and China.

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Those tensions were intensified by an incident involving an alleged Chinese spy balloon that was shot down after crossing the U.S. The balloon spurred a frenzied rush by the U.S. and Canada, through NORAD, to recalibrate defense systems and also take down other unidentified objects in the sky.

Spokespeople for the White House and Trudeau’s office didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Kovrig and Spavor were detained after Canada — acting on a U.S. request — detained Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou. They were then freed shortly after Meng was released in 2021. The timing of the detentions left little doubt among Canadian and American officials that it was a response to Meng’s arrest.

The Biden visit to Ottawa is aimed at bolstering ties with one of the closest U.S. allies at a time when Washington is squaring off with Beijing.