Kovrig, Spavor mark two years in Chinese prison
TRUDEAU SAYS FREEING TWO CANADIANS TOP PRIORITY AS PAIR REMAIN CAPTIVE AND ISOLATED
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists his government is doing everything possible to free the two Michaels, the Canadians who, on Thursday, begin a third year of arbitrary detention in Chinese custody.
Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were arrested by Chinese authorities on Dec. 10, 2018, exactly two years ago. Their arrests came shortly after the detention in Canada of Chinese Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition warrant.
“Over the past two years, two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, have been detained arbitrarily by China, and Canada has done absolutely everything necessary to try and get them home safe,” Trudeau said Wednesday in the House of Commons.
Ottawa has resisted applying sanctions against China in response, and the government has not moved to recall our ambassador or send China's ambassador to Ottawa home.
Instead, the Liberal government says it has been working with allies to increase verbal pressure on China, and several countries have raised the plight of the two men on Canada's behalf.
“We have seen allies in every corner of this planet speak up in the defence, not just of the Canadians, but in the fundamental rule of law that protects us all around this world,” the prime minister said.
Trudeau raised the two men's plight several times with U. S. President Donald Trump and mentioned it in a call with president-elect Joe Biden.
While Meng remains relatively free on house arrest and is allowed to move between two mansions in Vancouver, Spavor and Kovrig have been confined to detention centres and have had limited access to consular officials, who are restricted in their ability to monitor the Canadians' physical and mental health or to provide consular support.
Meng's extradition hearings have also been underway since January, while the two Canadians in China have yet to see a judge. They have been charged under national security legislation and Chinese authorities have provided little information about their cases.
Conservative MP and foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said the Liberal government has been inconsistent in its approach to China. He noted that last year, Canada's then ambassador to China, John Mccallum, was talking about how beneficial it would be if Meng were released, in direct contrast to the Trudeau government's stance.
Mccallum was eventually fired for his comments, but Chong said that left the post in Beijing vacant for many months as the two men languished in custody. He said the government initially pledged to introduce a new policy on China and then failed to do so. It also has failed to address the question of whether telecom giant Huawei, which is suspected of ties to the Chinese state, will be allowed to participate in Canada's 5G mobile-data network. Canada's allies in the Five Eyes intelligence network — the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. — have all banned or restricted the use of Huawei equipment in their 5G infrastructure.
“Frankly speaking, the government's policy on China is unintelligible,” Chong said. “If we have trouble figuring it out, then how on earth is China or anyone else, including our allies, supposed to figure it out?”
Chong did not suggest Ottawa should recall its ambassador, but said the government in China needs to understand where Canada sits, and the Liberal government's fluid approach makes that impossible.
“That inconsistency, that incoherence has been a problem in their approach, in the Liberal government's approach, to China,” he said.
Chong said all western democracies assumed that opening up to China through trade and investment would eventually see the country liberalize and respect human rights, but that has not proven to be true, and it is time for a rethink
“We need a new policy toward China that protects Canadian interests, and defends our values from being undermined by authoritarian states like China.”
Canada's ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, testified at the parliamentary committee on Canada-china relations on Tuesday evening.
He said he last had contact with the two Michaels in October and, despite their ordeal, they seem to be healthy.
“They are both very healthy, physically and mentally. I am deeply inspired by their resilience, and mindset. It's incredible given everything they have gone through,” he said.
Barton said the embassy is constantly trying to get more access to the two men, including hopefully in person, but he said, so far, Chinese officials have only allowed virtual meetings through a closed-circuit television.
“I know the Michaels are literally on the other side of the wall, but you talk through a big television screen.”
Barton said his office has tried to make it clear to Chinese authorities that the two men should receive regular, in-person meetings with lawyers and diplomatic staff.
“We are obviously very frustrated at not being able to get access,” he said. “We tried to demonstrate how, in Canada, we still allowed people to get access when they have people in detention.”
THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY ON CHINA IS UNINTELLIGIBLE.