detainees

Wednesday February 12, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 12, 2020

‘We don’t play games when people are sick’: China won’t release ‘two Michaels’ despite coronavirus help: experts

Ottawa shouldn’t expect Beijing to do it any favours and free the “two Michaels” in return for medical co-operation fighting the new coronavirus, experts say.

December 12, 2019

China’s ambassador to Canada hinted at that last week and Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says he’s used every medical discussion with China to raise the plight of the two men.

Champagne told reporters in Ethiopia on Sunday that he’s had more access to his Chinese counterparts in recent weeks and he uses the occasions to push for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who have been in Chinese prisons without charge since December 2018.

They were arrested in what is widely seen as retaliation for Canada’s decision to arrest Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on an extradition request from the United States.

David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, says that while it is good for Champagne to keep pushing, Canada’s assistance on the coronavirus simply isn’t contingent on what China can do for Canada.

“Anything that opens up the channels of communication is a good thing, and we should use the conversation to raise all of our priorities,” he said.

January 30, 2020

“We don’t play games when people are sick, and we shouldn’t allow China to play games with us. Freeing the Michaels isn’t a favour or quid pro quo; it is what we expect of law-abiding states.”

Bessma Momani, an international-affairs expert at the University of Waterloo, says China wants only one thing — Meng released — and so-called health diplomacy will not change that.

“I hope I’m wrong,” she said.

“Why would Champagne say that? It’s kind of raising hope. So, it makes you wonder,” she said. “But at the same time, what would the Chinese get out of doing this? To them, Meng is a really important person … They don’t want to be seen as giving in.”

Meng is the daughter of Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei.

Charles Burton, a former Canadian diplomat who has served in Beijing, said the Canadian efforts on the coronavirus might bear fruit.

“China is a gift giving culture. Any gift accepted creates reciprocal obligation in the recipient. So, I judge that China requesting medical aid from Canada could well lead to concessions in the negotiations over the release of Kovrig and Spavor,” said Burton, of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think-tank in Ottawa. (National Post) 

 

Thursday December 12, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 12, 2019

Two Canadians held for a year by China remain ‘resilient’

Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, were both detained on 10 December 2018.

August 23, 2019

China has accused the pair of espionage.

The move by Beijing is widely viewed as “hostage diplomacy” – a tactic to put the pressure on Canada to release Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

Beijing denies the men’s cases are related to Ms Meng’s arrest in Canada last year, but supporters say the two are being used as pawns in a larger political dispute.

December 12, 2018

The Canadian government says neither man has had access to a lawyer and have been denied contact with their families and loved ones.

“Our heart goes out to the two Canadians detained in China unjustly,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday.

“It’s difficult to even describe this cloud, or the weight that hangs over an organisation when your colleague, your friend has been in a Chinese prison for a year,” Brittany Brown, with the International Crisis Group, Mr Kovrig’s employer, told the BBC.

March 1, 2019

“Not a day goes by that someone in Crisis Group is doing something, engaging with someone, talking with someone, pushing certain points behind the scenes to try and support the Canadian [government] efforts,” she said.

Current and past presidents from the NGO published an open letter last week calling his detention “unjust and inhumane”.

Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to Beijing, said that during a recent consular visit, Mr Kovrig asked officials: “When are you going to get me out of this mess?”

“You need to have some hope,” says Mr Saint-Jacques, who once worked with the ex-diplomat. (BBC) 

 

Friday August 23, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday August 23, 2019

During Ottawa visit, Pompeo attacks China for detaining 2 Canadians

May 8, 2019

Canada will have the support of the United States until the two Canadians detained in China “are returned to their families,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised Thursday while on a visit to Ottawa.

Pompeo, a high-profile member of the Trump administration, met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his counterpart Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland ahead of the G7 summit in France this weekend.

December 12, 2018

Canada has been soliciting help from foreign allies in the ongoing dispute with China to secure the release of businessman Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat on leave. The two were detained in China late last year after Canadian officials arrested Chinese telecom executive Meng Wanzhou at the Vancouver airport to face possible extradition to the United States.

“Our team is focused on helping those two Canadians be released. China needs to honour the commitments it’s made to the world, and it is our expectation they’ll do so, and we’re working on it diligently,” said Pompeo during a brief photo opportunity Thursday morning.

Pompeo also made a point of insisting that the cases of Kovrig and Spavor shouldn’t be compared to Meng’s extradition case.

“[China] wants to talk about these two as if they are equivalent, as if they are morally similar, which they fundamentally are not,” he said during a media availability on Thursday afternoon.

“These are fundamentally different matters than the Canadian decision to use their due process and the rule of law to behave in a way that’s deeply consistent with the way decent nations work.”

The U.S., through a one-on-one conversation between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping and “other diplomatic activity,” has told Beijing directly the arrest of the two Canadians was inappropriate, said Pompeo.

“We’ll continue to do that until such time as they’re home and returned to their families,” he said. (CBC)  

 

Friday June 28, 2019

June 28, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 28, 2019

Canada has ‘broad international coalition’ of support on China file, Freeland says

Canada is fortunate to have assembled a “broad international coalition” of countries who support Canada and believe arbitrary detentions are harmful, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday at the G20 summit in Osaka.

August 10, 2018

Freeland, who spoke to reporters alongside her cabinet colleague Finance Minister Bill Morneau, said China has been hearing about the detention of two Canadians from a range of countries, adding that efforts continue here at the summit.

The Prime Minister’s Office said Trudeau had “brief, constructive interactions” with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the first day of meetings at the gathering of major economies.

Video footage from a working lunch on Friday showed the two leaders sitting beside each other but not interacting for several minutes while cameras were positioned on them. Trudeau could be seen making an effort to interact with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, located on his other side.

Trudeau and Xi greeted each other prior to the interaction in the footage, government officials said.

December 5, 2017

Canada has been open for a long time to having conversations with China in addition to discussions unfolding at some diplomatic levels, Freeland said Friday, adding it remains “very, very open” to having conversations at the summit at higher level.

At present, communication has proved to be difficult because the Chinese have indicated they have no interest in speaking with senior officials including Freeland or Trudeau.

To try and get through to China, Canada is now relying heavily on the influence of U.S. President Donald Trump to raise the issue in his own bilateral meeting with the Chinese president on Saturday. The president committed to doing so following a meeting last week with Trudeau in Washington.

Freeland wouldn’t speak to whether there was a specific ask of Trump going into the meeting, adding it is never prudent or appropriate to detail private meetings with partners.

June 22, 2019

In addition to having the backing of the U.S., the prime minister has been trying to establish heightened support as part of a strategy to encourage China to release two Canadians detained in China and to put an end to diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

The arrests of the detained Canadians is largely viewed as retaliation for the December arrest of Chinese high tech executive Meng Wanzhou.

Meng remains under house arrest in Vancouver, where she awaits extradition to the U.S. to face allegations of fraud in violating Iran sanctions.

It is important to see whether Trump does indeed raise the issue of the detentions, how he does that, and whether it has any impact, said Thomas Bernes, a fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a research think-tank. (CBC News)