PM urged to get tough over spy charges
EX-DIPLOMATS CALL FOR SANCTIONS AS CHINA CHARGES TWO CANADIANS WITH ESPIONAGE
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 the soft diplomacy and play hardball.
Chinese prosecutors announced Friday that Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor would be charged with espionage. Their arrests in 2018 came shortly after Canadian officials detained Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the arrests and charges remain arbitrary and without merit and he is disappointed China continues to detain the two men.
“We have continued to express our disappointment with the Chinese decision, with the Chinese detention of these two Canadians. We will continue to advocate for their release, for their return to Canada,” he said. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said each is charged with “secretly gathering state secrets for overseas forces with particularly serious consequences.”
Canada’s former ambassador to China, Guy Saint-jacques, said the soft diplomacy strategy the Trudeau government has taken has failed.
“The federal government has to come to the conclusion that the appeasement strategy that has been followed so far, has produced no result.”
Saint-jacques said the government should consider trade sanctions and being more aggressive with Chinese interference in Canada. It could also finally announce Huawei won’t have access to Canada’s 5G telecom network. Canada should also advocate other countries adopt such measures to leverage the pressure.
“That’s the kind of behaviour we have to prevent going into the future. We are a small player for China, but I think we can exact a price especially when we’re working with others.”
Kovrig and Spavor have been held with very limited consular contacts in a Chinese prison since their arrest in late 2018. 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 coronavirus-control measures earlier this year.
Meng by contrast has been on a form of house arrest since her detention began, allowed to move between two Vancouver mansions while wearing an ankle bracelet.
Meng recently lost a court decision in her extradition case. She faces fraud charges in the United States and was arrested at the American’s request while transiting through the Vancouver airport.
Saint-jacques said the recent loss in Canadian courts was likely the catalyst for the criminal charges against Kovrig and Spavor.
“The Chinese must come to the conclusion that the extraction process will drag on for years and they decided to up the ante by launching the formal trial,” said Saint-jacques.
Robert Malley, president of the International Crisis Group, the conflict resolution organization Kovrig works for, said the charges against him were “completely baseless” and “groundless.”
He said that Kovrig was “open and transparent” in his work, and Chinese officials have not provided any evidence to suggest otherwise.
“It’s deeply disappointing, but it’s wholly unsurprising,” Malley said. “From the very beginning, this has been a political case, not a legal one.”
Trudeau was asked if he viewed the two men as hostages, which he did not answer. He also didn’t outline any more aggressive measures to garner their release. He said a lot was being done behind the scenes.
“We are using a wide range of public and private measures to ensure that everything is being done to get the Michaels home.”
He said Chinese officials clearly believe the Meng case is politically motivated, but his government has been clear that the judicial system in Canada is independent.
“The Chinese authorities have directly linked the case of the two Michaels to the case of Ms. Meng, which is extremely disappointing because for us it is not, there are no links.”
Earlier this week, Zhao, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, denounced the legal proceedings against Meng as an “outright political case with grave consequences,” adding that Canada had been acting as a U.S. “accomplice” to oppress Chinese technology companies.
Asked Friday for the Chinese government’s position on “hostage diplomacy,” Zhao rejected the question as “vicious.” “Ask the Canadian government what ‘hostage diplomacy’ is,” he said.
Charles Burton, an associate professor at Brock University and former counsellor at the Canadian Embassy in China, said Kovrig and Spavor should not expect a fair trial.
“The case has already been developed, it’s very likely that they will be found guilty of these serious charges,” he said. “The trial itself, because it impinges on national security matters, would probably only amount to half a day. And we wouldn’t have any access to the proceedings.”
What China calls the People’s Procuratorate investigated and will prosecute the case, which Burton said effectively means the government will decide the men’s guilt and their sentence.
“They don’t have the principle of judicial independence. And therefore these decisions are made by the Chinese Communist Party.”
Burton said the government approach has been to not antagonize China, but that clearly isn’t delivering.