Canadian Ambassador to China Resigns Amid Tense Canada-China Relations - Prime Minister

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th January, 2019) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement on Saturday that he had asked for and accepted the resignation of the country's ambassador to China amid crisis in the Canadian-Chinese relations.

"Last night I asked for and accepted John McCallum's resignation as Canada's Ambassador to China," the statement read.

Trudeau thanked McCallum for his service and specified that following McCallum's resignation Jim Nickel, the deputy head of mission in the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, would represent Canada in China as charge d'affaires.

The Canadian-Chinese relations have worsened after the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese high-tech giant Huawei, in Vancouver in December at the request of the US authorities on suspicions of violating Washington's Iran sanctions. Beijing responded by detaining two Canadian nationals on suspicions of violating the Chinese national security. However, China denies that this move was related to Meng's arrest.