“The Two Michaels” — lives in peril
On Sunday, December 1, 2018, Canadian authorities arrested Huawei Technologies executive and Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, at Vancouver International Airport. She was enroute to Mexico from Asia. Ms. Meng was detained at the behest of the United States government following an extradition request. A warrant for her arrest was issued in a New York court on August 22, 2018, alleging that she had lied to American banks in order to circumvent American economic sanctions against Iran.
Ms. Weng appeared in court in Vancouver on December 7 where the allegations of fraud were presented. A flurry of activity involving Chinese, Canadian and American diplomats ensued in the days following. The Chinese government demanded that the U.S. rescind the court order and that Canada release her. On December 10, Chinese authorities arrested two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Ms. Meng was released on $10m bail and allowed house arrest at one of her two Vancouver luxury homes.
U.S. President Donald Trump, cynically told Reuters that he would “certainly intervene” in Meng’s case “if I thought it was necesary” to help forge a trade deal with the Chinese government.
Mr. Kovrig, 50, is a career diplomat who worked in Hong Kong and China for the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2016 and joined the International Crisis Group in 2017. Mr. Spavor, 44, is an entrepreneur and consultant who promoted business and tourism in North Korea, where he has had significant ties since his first visit there in 2001. He is friendly with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and had a hand in arranging visits to North Korea by former professional basketball player, Dennis Rodman.
Both Canadians were arrested for endangering state security but it is widely held view in Western circles that this was an act of retaliation by the governing Chinese Communist Party. It has been reported that since their incarceration neither man has seen the light of day or taken in a breath of fresh air and that both are kept isolated in their cells with lights on 24 hours per day and both subjected to a daily regimen of six to eight hours of questioning. In March of this year, Mr. Kovrig was allowed to speak with his ailing father in Ontario by telephone. Consular visits have been restricted due to Covid-19 measures.
As of the last day of August, 2020, they had been jailed for 630 days. It is entirely possible that they will remain captive for many years. Ms. Meng, meanwhile, remains under house arrest. She wears a court ordered ankle bracelet. Her legal team has tried unsuccessfully on a number of occasions to gain her freedom.
It would be unfair to characterize Ms. Meng’s detention as a kind of splendid isolation in a spacious and well appointed home but she is suffering from her detention as well and wrote an open letter after a year describing this life she now finds herself in. She spends much of her time reading and painting and can take in the outside air. The contrast, however, is stark when comparing the harsh conditions being experienced by the Canadians.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first referred to the detention of “The Two Michaels” as “arbitrary”. Shortly after their incarceration, Canadian Ambassador to China, Mr. John McCallum, offered personal views on legal arguments that Ms. Meng could use to avoid extradition to the U.S. He also said it would be “great for Canada” if the U.S. were to rescind its extradition request. He was thereafter forced to resign by Mr. Trudeau.
In January, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice brought formal charges against Huawei and Ms. Meng, alleging that attempts were made to evade the aforementioned sanctions against Iran in business dealings and additionally for stealing telecommunications technologies, trade secrets and equipment from American telecom provider T-Mobile USA. Ms. Meng was also charged with bank and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit both. The Canadian government then received a formal request for her extradition.
Numerous court appearances by Ms. Meng in Vancouver have taken place and considerable legal and political wrangling has followed. China imposed a $2-billion ban on Canadian canola exports and suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork producers. These were subsequently withdrawn.
In May, 2019, Kovrig and Spavor were formally arrested for allegedly stealing state secrets. In June, former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien stated that the extradition order should be cancelled in order to win the release of the two Canadians and to improve international relations between the two countries. This was rebuked by Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who said that Canada must uphold the rule of law vis-à-vis the purported lawful detainment of Ms. Meng.
In October, 2019, the new Canadian ambassador to China met with Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor. As of December, 2019, the two Michaels had still not been granted access to a lawyer.
A significant trial hearing took place in Vancouver in May of this year when the B.C. Supreme Court ruled against a legal argument for Ms. Meng that since her alleged crimes did not occur in Canada she should not be tried in this country. The judge ruled that these allegations would constitute a crime in Canada therefore the extradition process was valid.
In June, 2020, the Chinese government officially charged the two Canadians with espionage. Prime Minister Trudeau said that “we deplore” the action taken by Chinese authorities, his strongest statement to date. He was outspoken stating that the Canadian government would not engage in deal-making and that the country’s judicial framework would remain independent and sovereign.
Also during June, two separate groups of Canadian elites and intellectuals; former parliamentarians and politicians, legal minds and human rights experts, diplomats, scholars and educators sent open letters to Justin Trudeau imploring opposite views of dealing with the crisis. Both groups made good arguments but either way it appears that the Canadian government is in a quandary with no ready and earnest solution offering and in their hands at this point in time. A prisoner exchange does not appear to be an option. For now, at least.
Here’s what bothers me — political leaders ultimately become self-serving. I ask, does Donald Trump really give a damn about the fate of the two Michaels or is the prospect of leveraging their liberty to a trade deal more important? The U.S. has steadfastly accused China of human rights violations over a long period of years. What should we call police brutality and overt racism in America?
Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Erdogan share a warm and friendly relationship. The Turkish government runs Halkbank, the nation’s second-largest and state-owned bank. The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted Halkbank, alleging it provided Iran with assistance in avoiding sanctions by moving $20 billion in oil profits into gold transactions and other fraudulent means. Mr. Erdogan has apparently placed pressure on influential persons within the White House and it remains to be seen if the persuasions of the Turkish president are effective in avoiding prosecution and negating serious and severe legal ramifications.
Justin Trudeau assumes a tall posture and embraces the dignity of blind and wholesome justice. Yet, the Canadian government has, in fact, engaged in hostage diplomacy in the release, in 2009, of kidnapped Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay, from an African cell of Al-Qaeda. Despite the assurances of then Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper that the government did not pay a ransom the opposite has indeed been established and that the government, through an intermediary, paid 700,000 euros ($1.1m CDN) for the return of these men who had been held for four months.
Running in the background in this case is the future possible purchase of Chinese Huawei Corporation 5G technology and equipment. Canada is one of the Five Eyes Alliance and has yet to make a formal announcement concerning the acquisition of Huawei materials. This is a group of intelligence allies includes the U.S.A., U.K., Australia and New Zealand. The United States and Australia have declared that they will not engage Huawei in their 5G future.
Here is another concern — that China played Meng Wanzhou as a pawn — that she was sent through Canada on her way to Mexico to see if the Americans would act on the indictment presented in New York in August 2018 and use her arrest as political capital in their ongoing troubles with the Trump administration. Of greater concern to me is the health and welfare of the two Michaels and effects on their lives and those of loved ones from a prolonged and indefinite imprisonment.
Canada and the United States have an extradition treaty and therefore Canada was duty bound to act on the American Department of Justice request.
Could the Canadian government engage the UN General Assembly in an effort to gain international support for the release of the Canadians, I don’t know, but I remain unaware of any efforts to get broad traction. Somewhere, surely, there is protest and outrage at senior diplomatic levels.
I believe that the only plausible way to gain the freedom of the Canadians is in the hands of the White House. I am hopeful the Mr. Biden will win the election in November and engage the Chinese government in dialogue and negotiate a deal, including the withdrawal of the extradition order thereby allowing for the release of the Two Michaels and Ms. Meng.
