Freeland slams detentions in China
Freeland decries China’s ‘arbitrary’ actions
In a sign of escalating diplomatic tensions with China, Canada’s foreign affairs minister issued a statement on Friday calling the detention of two Canadians “arbitrary” and demanded their immediate release.
The blunt language from Ottawa came in the wake of reports by the Washington Post and Reuters that former diplomat Michael Kovrig, one of two Canadians detained on suspicion of endangering national security, was being held at an undisclosed location in a cell with the lights kept on around the clock. He has also been denied access to a lawyer and limited to one consular visit a month, the news agencies reported.
Kovrig’s employer, the International Crisis Group think-tank, said his arrest was “unjustified” and also called for his release — or at least regular access to consular officials and legal support. Details about the other detainee, businessman Michael Spavor, who promotes exchanges with North Korea, were not available.
Analysts have said the detentions are likely retaliatory measures taken by China after Canada took into custody Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei, on behalf of the United States, where she is wanted on fraud allegations.
In her statement, Freeland defended Meng’s arrest and said Canada was a country governed by the rule of law and that it was conducting a “fair, unbiased and transparent” legal proceeding concerning Wanzhou.
“Canada respects its international legal commitments, including by honouring its extradition treaty with the United States. The rule of law is fundamental to all free societies; we will defend and uphold the principle,” she wrote.
“We share with our partners the conviction that the rule of law is not a choice: it is the bedrock of democracy. Canada will not compromise nor politicize the rule of law and due process.”
David Mulroney, Canada’s former ambassador to China, said in an email Freeland’s comments were necessary “given what we know about the conditions facing detainees in China and given the continuing aggressive tone taken by the Chinese government and its state-controlled media when it comes to Canada and, by implication, Canadians.”
“China doesn’t hesitate to use blunt talk with its partners, and nor should we, especially when the health and safety of our fellow Canadians are concerned,” he wrote.
Prior to Freeland’s statements, some observers said Ottawa needed to take a more aggressive posture against China’s “bullying” tactics.
“What has not happened, as far as I understand, is the Canadian government has not galvanized a full, outright expression of outrage,” said Shuvaloy Majumdar, senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and former policy director to foreign affairs minister John Baird.
Majumdar urged Cabinet ministers in the Trudeau government to actively reach out to Chinese officials, and leverage the connections they’ve made in recent years in a bid to secure trade ties with the country.
“You’d expect that with the parade of ministers that have been going to China from Canada for the last two years, that there’d be connectivity at the ministerial level,” he said.
A number of Trudeau Cabinet ministers have visited China over the past few years in a bid to secure trade ties with the country, including Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains and Trade Minister Jim Carr.
“Nice and polite has its time and place for sure,” said Peter Dahlin, a Swedish human rights worker who was held captive in China for three weeks in 2016 over allegations of violating national security. “Now is not that time.”
In an opinion piece submitted to the Post, Dahlin wrote that the detentions present an opportunity for Canada and its allies to present a strong, united front.
“The only way forward, without giving up what Canada is, is to defend its judicial independence fully, and to do so with support from its friends — from Sweden to France to Japan and beyond. This attack on the rule of law, and trying to subjugate Canada, is an attack on all of us, but together, we still have the strength to resist such bully- ing, as China needs the West and economic stability, especially as its growth continues to plummet,” he wrote.
However, one conflict-resolution expert cautioned against unnecessary grandstanding. Yves Tiberghien, a UBC political science professor and director emeritus of the Institute of Asian Research, said the alleged details of Kovrig’s harsh detention were troubling.
“We know this is routine under the Chinese system. It’s not surprising. It’s not something we like to hear. That we can deplore,” he said.
But the last thing you want is for emotions to escalate and misunderstandings to occur.
“If the other side feels aggrieved … the more we push, the more they harden. We want to defuse that,” he said, suggesting that maybe an envoy could be sent to China to “cool things down.”
Kovrig and Spavor are among some 200 Canadians who are currently being detained in China for various infractions, a federal official confirmed.