If there’s something Canadians of all political stripes can agree on, it’s that their fellow citizens should not be unjustly detained on foreign soil, says Canada’s leader of the official Opposition.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says Canada should stand firm in its fast-escalating dispute with China that’s resulted in two Canadians being detained by Chinese authorities.

“Canada needs to unite around this issue and send a clear message to the Chinese government that it is completely unacceptable that a Canadian citizen on Chinese soil is being used in this way,” Scheer told reporters on Thursday.

News of Michael Kovrig’s arrest broke Tuesday. Kovrig is a Canadian diplomat on a leave of absence from Global Affairs who’s currently working with the International Crisis Group. Chinese officials allege his work with the non-profit group is illegal.

Yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said a second Canadian had gone missing after reporting to consular officials that he was being questioned by Chinese authorities. China’s foreign ministry later confirmed it had detained Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur who works throughout Asia and makes frequent trips to North Korea. Photos on Spavor’s social media accounts show him with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un on multiple occasions.

China’s foreign ministry says it’s holding Spavor and Kovrig because they threaten national security.

[READ MORE: Second Canadian missing in China after diplomat detained: Freeland]

Their seizure follows Canadian law enforcement’s high-profile arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer for Chinese telecom giant, Huawei. The U.S. has requested that Meng be extradited to face allegations that she violated U.S. trade sanctions against Iran.

Before it detained Kovrig and Spaver, China’s government had called Meng’s arrest a “political conspiracy” and threatened to retaliate. The country hasn’t explicitly linked the men’s arrests with that of Meng, who is also the daughter of Huawei’s founder, and was granted bail earlier this week. She’s been ordered to stay inside her Vancouver home from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. and is subject to 24-hour monitoring by both a live security detail and an electronic ankle device.

Scheer said Canada should “unequivocally denounce” China’s actions.

While government officials caution that Canadians should “exercise a high degree of caution” if travelling to China, they haven’t changed the travel-risk level. Scheer ducked questions from reporters on Thursday about whether he would permit his MPs or senators to travel to the country, or what he would tell constituents about travelling to the country, only saying, “I don’t plan on going there.”

Scheer answered questions about the Chinese situation after giving a talk on “Justin Trudeau’s Year of Failure.”

The Liberal government has criticized the Conservatives for failing to present concrete alternative solutions of their own. Scheer said his government will offer more details about how his party would deal with immigration, the environment and the Canadian deficit in “the weeks to come.” A comprehensive platform will have to wait until the 2019 federal election campaign, Scheer said.

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