OTTAWA—The Conservatives are calling on the Liberal government to stop funding the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank given the ongoing detention and secret trials of two Canadians in China. In a letter Tuesday to Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole urged the prime minister to cancel a US$40 million payment to the China-led agency. “When the AIIB was first proposed it was criticized by the Obama administration as a political tool that the Chinese government would use to expand its influence throughout Asia,” O’Toole wrote. “Furthermore, concerns about the AIIB’s environmental records, labour standards, and overall commitment to human rights continue to this day.” O’Toole said Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig “have been held hostage” by China for more than two years, arbitrarily detained in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a top Huawei executive on the request of the United States. They are now being tried secretly in Chinese …
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