A day after Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne met with his Chinese counterpart and called for the release of the two Michaels, Beijing said the two countries’ relationship “have come to this stage not because of China.” It is asking Canada to “take immediate and effective measures to correct the mistakes.” (The Canadian Press)

Talking point: Michael Kovring and Michael Spavor were arrested in China after Canadian authorities arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. The back-and-forth comes a day after a federal court judge denied Meng’s legal team access to six confidential documents, deeming them irrelevant to the case. As my colleague Catherine reported last week, Meng’s extradition hearing is at the centre of a geopolitical quandary.