calling for the release of two canadians a businessman michael spade war and former diplomat michael covert were arrested in china in december on allegations of spying canada says they face daily interrogations and have had no access to attorneys it's believed they were detained in retaliation for the arrest of a top chinese food weight executive in canada last month. when they talk more about this i'm joined now at the big table by tom brokaw fee is vice president of the german marshall fund think tank here in berlin he is one of the people who signed that letter and it's good to have you on the program china's foreign ministry they're accusing you and the others who signed this letter of being disrespectful and meddling in china's judicial process what do you say to that well i'm a private citizen i'm a policy research i don't represent a country how could i be meddling and if the chinese foreign ministry refers to a just judicial process i would like to know what that process is so for these. two colleagues have been detained on trumped up charges actually on no real charges for six week

last year and late last year two other canadians former diplomat michael covert and businessman michael space were arrested and charged with espionage the timing of these detentions is significant following as they do qantas arrests of ways chief financial officer. she's wanted by the united states for violating sanctions against iran china denies its crackdown on foreigners is retaliation for. the beijing's actions have been met with fierce international condemnation. is this the latest in a global power game spy novelist and blogger a young from june was a chinese diplomat before he became an australian citizen he flew from new york to last week where he mysteriously dropped off the grid friends raised the alarm when he couldn't be contacted. china at first denied all knowledge of his whereabouts but now officials have confirmed young is in residential detention in beijing and has been charged with endangering state security. australia is demanding consular access at the earliest opportunity it's also seeking urgent clarification as to whether young's detention is linked to canada's a