The Chinese authorities have been imprisoning two Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, for more than two years for violating national security laws, and have occasionally allowed Canadian embassy and consulate officials to meet with them and provide consular services, but at irregular intervals that appear to depend entirely on the political considerations of the Chinese authorities.
On January 21, the Chinese authorities granted Canadian diplomats in China access to the detained Michael Kovrig, but not to the other detained Canadian citizen, Michael Spavor.
In stark contrast to the Chinese approach, the Canadian court two years ago granted Meng Wanzhou parole in her multi-million dollar Vancouver mansion, and recently granted her Family entry visas to visit and accompany her in Canada.
Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were arrested by Chinese judicial authorities in December 2018 on charges of espionage. This is widely seen by international affairs observers as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Meng in Vancouver, Canada in early December 2018 in response to an extradition request from U.S. judicial authorities.
Meng is the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant huawei and the daughter of the company’s founder Ren Zhengfei. The United States has accused Meng of defrauding HSBC employees and committing fraud.
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