Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it has long been obvious that the detention of two Canadians in China is linked to the Vancouver arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou , doubling down on comments a Chinese official called irresponsible hours earlier.

Speaking to reporters at his daily briefing in Ottawa Monday, Trudeau said that within the first days of the detention of former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor in December 2018, Chinese officials were highlighting a link to Mengs arrest by the RCMP nine days earlier.

It has been obvious from the beginning that this was a political decision made by the Chinese government and we deplore it and have from the very beginning, he said.