Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland speaks with the media during a news conference in Ottawa, Wednesday December 12, 2018. (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Ottawa lost contact with another Canadian in China, says Freeland

A second Canadian might have also been nabbed by Chinese authorities, Canadian officials said Wednesday as they confirmed that a Canadian diplomat on temporary leave to work for an international nongovernmental think-tank has been arrested in China.

Global Affairs Canada officials identified the missing man as Michael Spavor, who ran a non-profit organization that organized cultural and sports exchanges with North Korea.

Spavor came to international prominence in 2013 and 2014 by organizing NBA star Dennis Rodman’s visits to North Korea.

“We are aware of a Canadian who got in touch with us because he was being asked questions by Chinese authorities,”Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Wednesday.

“We have not been able to make contact with him since he let us know about this. We are working very hard to ascertain his whereabouts and we have also raised this case with the Chinese authorities. We are in touch with his family.”

Canadian officials also confirmed Wednesday that Michael Kovrig who was on an unpaid leave of absence from Global Affairs Canada to work as an expert on North-East Asia for the International Crisis Group was arrested by the Beijing Bureau of Chinese State Security.

But other than receiving a fax from the Chinese Ministry of State Security notifying Canada of his arrest, the federal government has had no news from Korvig, officials said Wednesday.

Canadian officials don’t know where Kovrig is being held, what charges he faces and had no consular access to him, officials speaking on background said.

‘We take this very personally’

The federal government is doing everything to help these Canadians, Freeland said.

“For me, for the prime minister really the issue that probably touches our hearts the most, the thing that keeps you up at night, that you wake up in the middle of the night worrying about is Canadian consular cases,” Freeland said. “It is agonizing when a Canadian is detained outside Canada, we take this very personally, and we work very hard for every Canadian in this kind of difficult situation.”

Canadian officials say they are deeply concerned by the reported arrest of former Canadian diplomat and North East Asia expert Michael Kovrig in China. (International Crisis Group)

In the case of Kovrig, who is still considered an employee of Global Affairs, Canadian officials have been in touch with Chinese authorities, Freeland said adding, that she spoke with the Chinese ambassador about it.

Freeland also said she has spoken to Kovrig’s family.

“It’s important for them to know we’re personally concerned, we are personally engaged,” Freeland said.

Karim Lebhour, a spokesperson for the International Crisis Group, said Kovrig was detained on Monday at 10pm Beijing time by Chinese security officials.

“Crisis Group has received no information about Michael directly since his detention and is concerned for his health and safety,” Lebhour said in an emailed statement. “We do not have confirmation of the exact substance of the charges against him but are working to gather as much information as possible.”

The ICG is working round the clock to ensure his well-being and secure his release, Lebhour said.

Citing Chinese authorities, the Beijing News newspaper reported Wednesday that Kovrig was being investigated for allegedly “engaging in activities that endanger China’s national security.”

However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told journalists in Beijing on Wednesday he had “nothing to offer” regarding Kovrig’s fate.

Lu said the ICG has not legally registered in mainland China and its activities violate the country’s new law governing nongovernmental organizations.

Lebhour said this was the first time the NGO had heard such an accusation from the Chinese authorities in a decade of working with China.

“We originally opened our office in China in 2007 after consultations with the Foreign Ministry,” Lebhour said. “We closed our Beijing operations in December 2016 because of the new Chinese NGO law and have been trying to formalize our status since then.”

Kovrig has been working from Hong Kong which is not subject to the same law, he said.

“Michael regularly visits Beijing to meet officials, attend conferences at the invitation of Chinese organizations, and on personal visits,” Lebhour said. “He frequently appears on Chinese television and other media to comment on regional issues.”

Tit for tat strategy?

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, leaves her home in Vancouver on Wednesday, December 12, 2018. (Jonathan Hayward/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Kovrig’s arrest comes after Canadian authorities arrested on Dec. 1 a top executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei at the request of the U.S.

Meng Wanzhou was granted bail Tuesday to await extradition proceedings to the U.S.

Meng, 46, could face extradition to the U.S. over allegations she was involved in violating sanctions on Iran, with each charge carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada’s ambassador in China from 2012 and 2016 and Kovrig’s former boss, said there was little doubt in his mind Kovrig’s arrest was related to Meng’s arrest and extradition procedures in Canada.

“Unfortunately, based on my 13 years in China, there is no coincidence in China,” Saint-Jacques said.

(Listen to Guy Saint-Jacques full interview)

ListenAnd Kovrig is in for a gruelling experience designed to break him and extract a confession, Saint-Jacques said.

“The usual procedure is to bring people to one of the safe houses and subject them to interrogation,” Saint-Jacques said.

Based on the experience of Kevin and Julia Garratt, Canadian missionaries detained in similar circumstances in 2014 and accused of espionage, Kovrig will be subjected to long interrogations at “all hours of the day,” Saint-Jacques said.

“They will subject him to sleep deprivation, they will threaten him and put as much psychological pressure as possible to make him admit his guilt,” Saint-Jacques said.

Unlike Meng, who was granted consular access the day she was arrested, Kovrig will have no access to Canadian consular officials or legal representation until Chinese officials are ready to charge him, a process that could take months, Saint-Jacques said.

Caught between two giants

Meng’s arrest, which occurred on the same day that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met after the G20 summit in Buenos Aires to discuss their trade war, has escalated tensions between Beijing, Ottawa and Washington.

While Canada continues to stress that this is a purely legal matter and it was bound by it extradition treaty with the U.S. to arrest Meng and there was no political interference, Trump said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday that he is willing to intervene in the matter if he gets enough Chinese trade concessions.

“Regardless of what goes in other countries, Canada is and will always remain a country of the rule of law,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday, responding to a question about Trump’s comments.

Canada is caught in the middle of a fight between two giants and risks becoming collateral damage, Saint-Jacques said.

“I’m afraid we’re entering a period of turbulence and in fact the relationship could quickly deteriorate,” Saint-Jacques said. “This will have an impact on the overall relationship, it could throw it back a few years.”

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