Delegation off to China seeking Canadians’ release

Entrepreneur and diplomat both detained

OTTAWA • A group of Canadian lawmakers travelling to China this weekend will use the trip to push for the release of two Canadians detained there since last month, a Conservative MP in the delegation says.

Entrepreneur Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, a diplomat on a leave from Global Affairs Canada and employed in Beijing by the International Crisis Group, were arrested last month in China. The arrests are widely viewed as Chinese retaliation for Canada’s arrest of hightech executive Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, by the RCMP in Vancouver at the request of the United States.

On Thursday, an unexpected statement from China’s top prosecutor expressed confidence about the case against the two men — an unusual move but potentially revealing.

Zhang Jun told a briefing that “without a doubt” Kovrig and Spavor broke the country’s laws and are being investigated.

Chinese officials are generally tight-lipped on politically sensitive issues, so the fact that an official spoke out about Kovrig and Spavor is noteworthy. It also is significant that it came from a top prosecutor, said Julian Ku, a professor at Hofstra University’s law school.

Ku said a comment from Zhang hints that Beijing plans to channel the case through China’s legal system rather than handling it using extralegal methods often used in high-profile, political cases. “The worst situation is when you are outside the legal process. It’s not great to be in it, but it’s worse to be outside it,” he said.

Since Meng was arrested in Vancouver, the Canadian government has repeatedly stressed that her case is a legal, rather than a political matter. Zhang’s comment gives the Chinese side the chance to draw a rhetorical parallel, sending a pointed message to the Canadian government: We, too, have laws.

Robert Malley, the Crisis Group’s president and a former member of the U.S. National Security Council under president Barack Obama, said in an interview Thursday that he hoped people travelling to China would raise the matter. “People who do go to China, I’m hoping they will raise this with their interlocutors to make clear that it is hurting China’s image in the world, and it’s going to make it harder for some people who want to travel to China,” he said.

That’s exactly what the members of the CanadaChina Legislative Association say they will do when they arrive in China on Saturday, Conservative MP Michael Cooper said.

“I and the other members of the delegation will engage with Chinese officials in as constructive way as possible, with the obvious objective of seeing these two Canadians returned safely and as soon as possible,” Cooper said.

The Edmonton-area MP is joining three Liberal MPs, a Liberal senator and a Conservative senator on the previously scheduled trip that is being funded by Canadian taxpayers.

Cooper acknowledged there was discussion about whether the trip would go ahead given the current tensions, until the leader of the delegation, Liberal Sen. Joseph Day, was briefed by the Canadian foreign ministry.

“The message from Global Affairs Canada ... was that it would be better for us to go rather than to cancel,” Cooper said. “Quite frankly, if there were safety issues or if it was deemed to not be beneficial, then we wouldn’t be going.”

The U.S. State Department updated its travel advisory on China on Thursday, urging Americans travellers to exercise “increased caution” because of “arbitrary enforcement of local laws as well as special restrictions on dual U.S.-Chinese nationals.”

Adam Austen, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, said parliamentary delegations are independent and can make their own travel decisions, adding the department provided a pre-trip briefing to the participants.

He reiterated Canada’s call for the release of the two men.

“We are deeply concerned by the arbitrary detention by Chinese authorities of two Canadians last month and call for their immediate release,” Austen said.

Earlier Thursday, a Chinese government spokesman said it was not “convenient” to discuss the allegations against the two Canadians.

“We have said here that these two Canadian citizens are under investigation in accordance with law for engaging in activities that undermine China’s national security,” foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

Malley said Kovrig was “living in a very uncertain world — not clear what the charges are, not clear if they are formal charges, not clear what the process will be — and that’s sort of what Michael has lived through now for the past three weeks.”

The U.S. wants Meng to face fraud charges. She has been released on bail and is living in an upscale Vancouver home in advance of her extradition hearing.

Little is known about Kovrig’s or Spavor’s circumstances because they’ve each had only a single consular visit by Canada’s ambassador to China, John McCallum, last month.

“To have no news, no contact, no sense of how long this is going to last, no interaction with Chinese authorities, that’s really living in the dark in a way I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Malley said.

Malley said he won’t speculate on why Kovrig was detained, only to say it has nothing to do with his work as an analyst for the Crisis Group.

IF THERE WERE SAFETY ISSUES ... THEN WE WOULDN’T BE GOING.