Updated

China says its suspension of the license of a second major Canadian canola exporter is justified by safety concerns, as the sides continue to feud over Ottawa's detention of a top executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Wednesday that China's actions were "scientific and reasonable," but added that Canada should "take practical measures to correct the mistakes it made earlier" in dealing with the overall relationship.

China's suspension Tuesday of the license of canola seeds from Viterra Inc., citing hazardous organisms in shipments, is a blow to $2 billion worth of exports widely seen as retaliation for Canada's arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei's founder.

China earlier had halted imports from Canada's other major canola exporter, Richardson International Ltd.