China frees detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor

The men, who were detained by Beijing in 2018, were released hours after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was freed in Canada

Two Canadian citizens who were detained by Beijing for more than 1,000 days have arrived back in Canada on Sunday morning, greeted by the country's prime minister, Justin Trudeau

The plane carrying Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor arrived in Calgary, a location which had not been publicly disclosed. They were met and embraced by Trudeau on the tarmac. The plane had left Chinese airspace around 7.30pm Ottawa time, just hours after US authorities reached an agreement allowing Chinese Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou, to return to China in exchange for admitting wrongdoing in a fraud case. Shortly before Trudeau spoke, Meng boarded a chartered flight organised by the Chinese government to Shenzhen, Chinese state media reported. Zhao Lijian, ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, said her return was enabled by the unremitting efforts of the Chinese government".