Canada’s foreign ministry says Ambassador Thomas Boudreaux has been granted “video access” to two Canadians detained in China, Kang Mingkai and Michael. This is the second time since October that two Canadians detained on espionage charges have been granted “consular video visitation. China has suspended all consular visits due to the New Crown epidemic.
Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a North Korea expert and businessman, were arrested in China on December 10, 2018, having been charged with espionage in June of last year.
According to AFP, Ottawa believes their arrests were in retaliation for the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, in Canada at the request of the United States a few days earlier that year. The incident sparked a serious diplomatic crisis between China and Canada.
Canada’s foreign ministry said its ambassador to China, Damin Bao, was granted “video consular access” to Spavor and Kang on November 10 and 19, respectively. In a statement released Thursday, Canada said, “The Government of Canada is deeply concerned about the arbitrary detention of two Canadian citizens and continues to call for their immediate release.
According to the report, the purpose of consular visits is to assess the status of detainees, clarify the nature of their detention, provide advice or serve as a channel of communication with their loved ones. China has suspended all consular visits since January of this year due to concerns about the spread of the new coronavirus.
Mingkai’s wife, Vina Nadjibulla, told the Canadian press that when her husband received his first consular visit in October, he was relieved to be informed by his family and the outside world, but also surprised by the extent of the outbreak.
Beijing has firmly rejected Canadian allegations of “arbitrary detention. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson responded in early November that “what the Canadian authorities did to Meng Wanzhou was arbitrary detention.”
Meng Wanzhou was arrested in early December 2018 while transiting through a Canadian airport and is currently confined to her Vancouver residence. The U.S. has accused Meng of fraud and bypassing Washington’s sanctions against Iran, and has demanded her extradition to the United States.
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