Diplomats from nearly 30 countries showed solidarity with Canada outside the courtroom as Chinese authorities tried former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig behind closed doors in Beijing, expressing their displeasure at the lack of transparency in the trial.
The “Second Intermediate People’s Court” in Beijing held a trial Monday morning (March 22, 2021) for one of Canada’s two Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, for allegedly spying on state secrets and intelligence abroad.
Last Friday, just as senior U.S. and Chinese officials were meeting in the U.S. state of Alaska, a court in Dandong, China, held a closed trial for the other Mike, Canadian Michael Spavor, on charges of spying on and illegally providing state secrets for outside China.
Chinese authorities abruptly arrested the two Canadians in December 2018. It is widely believed in the international community that China’s move was in retaliation for the arrest of huawei‘s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who was transferred in Vancouver a few days earlier by Canadian authorities in response to a U.S. extradition request.
Beijing has insisted that the detention of the “two Mikes” had nothing to do with Meng’s arrest.
Speaking to foreign media outside the courtroom where Kang was tried on Monday, Jim Nickel, a pro tempore at the Canadian Embassy in China, said, “We have repeatedly asked to sit in on Kang’s trial, but have been denied access. Now we see that the court proceedings themselves are not transparent, and we are very disturbed by that.”
China says cases involving state secrets are not open to the public.
Reuters reporters covering the scene said 28 diplomats from 26 countries, including those from the United States, Britain, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, also came outside the courthouse to show solidarity with Canada under the close watch of Beijing police.
William Klein, head of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, stood next to pro tem Ni Jemin at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing and told reporters, “President Biden and Secretary Blinken have said that with respect to the case of Kang Mingkai and Spavor, the United States considers these two men to be American citizens.”
In two phone calls with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since taking office on Jan. 20, President Biden condemned the continued detention of the two Canadian citizens by Chinese authorities and promised him that the United States would do everything possible to secure their release.
After signing the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations, which was drafted at the initiative of Canada, Secretary of State Blinken said Feb. 15 that “it is Time to send a clear message to every government that arbitrarily detains foreign nationals and tries to use them as leverage: the international community will not tolerate this practice.”
Blinken and National Security Advisor Sullivan expressed deep concern about the arrest, prosecution and trial of Kang Mingkai and Spavor by Chinese authorities during a meeting in Anchorage last week with Yang Jiechi, member of the Communist Party’s Central Political Bureau in charge of foreign affairs, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
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