China detains two Canadians over spying allegations

Two Canadian nationals from Vancouver have been arrested in the Chinese Liaoning Province for alleged espionage, state media reports say.

According to a report by state-run Xinhua news agency on Monday, Kevin Garratt and Julia Dawn Garratt were detained and put “under investigation for suspected theft of state secrets about China’s military and national defense research,” Xinhua said.

Canadian sources say the two have reportedly been living in China since 1984. They opened a coffee shop in Dandong in 2008, after working as teachers in southern China.

Reports say they were well-known by locals and held weekly English tutoring sessions.

China’s state secrets law covers a broad range of areas, and violations could be punishable with life in prison or the death penalty.

The arrests come a week after Canada accused Chinese hackers of breaking into the National Research Council, which is Canada’s leading research body and works with major companies.

“Recently, the government of Canada, through the work of the Communications Security Establishment, detected and confirmed a cyber intrusion on the IT infrastructure of the National Research Council of Canada by a highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor,” a Canadian government statement said last week.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry denied the accusations and slammed Ottawa for “lacking credible evidence.”

The two countries have been wrestling with instances of tension, including Canada’s delay in inking an investment agreement with China and new Canadian rules imposed on state-owned foreign investors.