Canadians sending Christmas cards to the `Two Michaels' in China
People are writing, posting online, and then snail-mailing Christmas cards containing wishes of support and comfort to Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, known as the `Two Michaels.'
The two men were jailed and later charged with spying in China in December 2018, after Canada arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wangzhou at the request of a U.S. extradition warrant.
In Vancouver — where the Meng trial continues and the executive lives with bail conditions, but is free to roam a large area — card writers are considering two options.
One, known by #freechinahostages, was started in the U.K. by former diplomat Charles Parton.
It's seeking cards be sent to Chinese consulates and embassies to express “disquiet and disgust” with Beijing's jailing of the two Michaels. It's asking cards be sent to the Chinese consulate at 3380 Granville St., Vancouver, V6H 3K3 or its embassy at 515 St. Patrick St., Ottawa, Ont., K1N 5H3.
“If there are hundreds or thousands, maybe many thousands of people who are sending cards, (Beijing doesn't) want that kind of attention,” said Abbotsford-based Kevin Garrett, who was jailed in China for 19 months, starting in August 2014, at the same detention centre where Spavor is being held.
The other effort, widely circulated among associations of Canadians with diplomatic, business, academic and other ties to China, asks for cards to be sent directly to detention centres in China, addressed to Michael Kovrig, Beijing No. 1 Detention Centre, 501 Dougezhuang County, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100021, CHINA and Michael Spavor, Dandong Detention Centre, Jingu Village, Zhenxing District, Dandong, Liaoning Province, 118000, CHINA.
Vancouver-based Louis Huang of Vancouver Society of Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights in China gathered in person with some 20 or so active members to write Christmas cards to the Two Michaels last year, and this year, each is doing so again.
They are vocal about Beijing's attempts to influence Canadian institutions, but Huang hopes card writers will distinguish between China, the country, and ordinary Chinese people.
“It's a very important point especially during these pandemic times,” when Chinese-Canadians have experienced spikes in racism, he said.
Card-writing campaigns take large numbers and a “huge amount of organizing and dedication,” said Jonathan Manthorpe, author of Claws of the Panda: Beijing's Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada.
“If you don't get the big numbers, then whichever petty despot is the target of the campaign figures they have nothing to worry about and carries on,” said Manthorpe, a former Vancouver Sun columnist. “That's the risk here, especially when making the PRC ambassador in Ottawa and the consul general in Vancouver the main targets.”
He will be sending cards directly to the prisons.
“For me, the important message is to get through directly to them, if possible, and tell them they have not been forgotten, and that many of us in Canada are doing what we can day-by-day to get them home.”
If there are hundreds or thousands ... of people who are sending cards, (Beijing doesn't) want that kind of attention.