Advice to Canadian Teachers in China

The Alberta woman who is being detained is Sarah McIver. She has been teaching in China for months.

The National Post reported that she was teaching at a school in China when she was detained due to visa complications and that arrangements were being made for her return to Canada.

A friend of Sarah said "The Chinese government could be reacting to Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of tech giant Huawei's arrest by creating bureaucratic inconveniences for Canadians and includes cracking down on people who have overstayed their visas while awaiting their renewal. Canadians who study or do business in China may want to lie low and keep a low profile and avoid taking any risky activities because the political environment is just not conducive."

Read the whole story at Canadian Press

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying wouldn’t confirm McIver had been detained, but said on Thursday that the Canadian had received an “administrative penalty (for) illegal employment.”

Hua added that McIver’s situation was different from the two other Canadian detainees. “The previous two have been put under compulsory measures by state security on suspicion of endangering China’s national security. This person was given administrative penalty,” she said.

Those detentions were seen by many as retaliation for Canada’s December 1 arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese technology giant Huawei, at the request of the US over alleged violations of Iran sanctions.

There has been no official confirmation the detentions were linked to Meng’s case but the Chinese government has made clear its anger at her arrest, with numerous furious editorials in state-run media.

Trudeau says third Canadian detained in China