(Pittsburgh) Putting people in jail to use as political bargaining chips is “completely unacceptable,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday after China released two detained Canadians for almost three years.

Ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor were detained shortly after Canada's arrest in 2018 of the chief financial officer of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, at the request of the United States.

Although Beijing has assured that the two cases are unrelated, the “two Michaels” as well as an American and his sister were allowed to leave after Ms^me Meng reached to an agreement with the American authorities and was able to return to China last week.

“We are very happy to see that the two Michaels have been able to return home, as have our two American citizens,” Mr. Blinken told reporters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was involved in trade talks between the United States and the European Union.

“But a bigger problem remains. And it's not just China: other countries are engaged in the practice of arbitrarily detaining citizens of other countries for political purposes. And that should be totally unacceptable,” he continued.

Huawei's number two has been released after three years under house arrest in Vancouver, escaping extradition to the United States to try her for bank fraud under Iran sanctions.

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor had been arrested in China on espionage charges that Ottawa considered "fabricated". They were welcomed upon their return to Canada by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.