Espionage charges against two Canadians proof soft diplomacy with China isn’t working: experts

National Post
Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor National Post | James Alexander Michie

Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor will be charged with espionage, China has announced. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

That’s right, former diplomats say China’s decision to charge two Canadians with espionage, after detaining them for more than 18 months, should be a wake-up call to the Trudeau government to stop soft diplomacy and start playing hard. That being the case, Chinese prosecutors announced Friday that Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor would be charged with espionage. Recall that his 2018 arrests came shortly after Canadian officials detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver.

Concerning this, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the arrests and charges remain arbitrary and without merit and disappointed that China continues to detain the two men. While Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said each is accused of “secretly gathering state secrets for overseas forces with particularly serious consequences”.

Behind the scenes

Certainly, Kovrig and Spavor have been held with very limited consular contacts in a Chinese prison since their arrest in late 2018. While Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu said in an interview with Reuters last week that consular services for Kovrig and Spavor had been suspended due to the coronavirus, as a control measure earlier this year.

For his part, Robert Malley, president of the International Crisis Group, the conflict resolution organization Kovrig works for, said the charges against him were “completely unfounded”. He also said that Kovrig was “open and transparent” in his work, and Chinese officials have provided no evidence to suggest otherwise.

Likewise, Trudeau was asked if he saw the two men as hostages, which he did not answer. Nor did he describe any more aggressive measures to obtain his release. In fact, he claimed that much was being done behind the scenes. He also said that Chinese officials clearly believe that the Meng case is politically motivated, but his government has made it clear that the judicial system in Canada is independent.

Earlier this week, Zhao, the spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, denounced the legal proceedings against Meng as an “outright political case with serious consequences”, adding that Canada had been acting as an “accomplice” of the United States to oppress Chinese technology companies.

Source: Ryan Tumilty | National Post

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