Beijing's Deadly Stranglehold

"The federal government has to come to the conclusion that the appeasement strategy that has been followed so far, has produced no result."
"That's the kind of behaviour we have to prevent going into the future. We are a small player for China, but I think we can exact a price especially when we're working with others [to prevent Beijing's bullying tactics]."
"The Chinese must come to the conclusion that the extraction process [of Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou on an American extradition warrant] will drag on for years and they decided to up the ante by launching the formal trial [of two Canadians arrested in China under false pretenses of espionage]."
Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian Ambassador to China

"The case has already been developed, it's very likely that they [abducted Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor] will be found guilty of these serious charges."
"The trial itself, because it impinges on national security matters, would probably only amount to half a day. And we [Canada] wouldn't have any access to the proceedings."
"They [Chinese Communist Party] don't have the principle of judicial independence. And therefore, these decisions are made by the Chinese Communist Party."
Charles Burton, associate professor, Brock University

The two Canadians, abducted a year and a half ago in China while they were there on business affairs, as Communist China state retaliation against the arrest several weeks earlier of Huawei's Chief Financial Officer, the daughter of its founder, in response to a U.S. warrant for her arrest and extradition to the U.S., are pawns in a Canada-China standoff, and are guaranteed a guilty verdict on the trumped-up charges of espionage, endangering China's security.

Imprisoned, eventually charged with the crime of espionage, formally ratified just a week ago, the two men have been held virtually incommunicado; not permitted to see their families, to hire lawyers, with only a few sporadic consular visits. Now, under COVID rules, not even that; consular visits as rare as hen's teeth, no longer allowed. They have been exposed to relentless questioning and suffer dire physical and psychological conditions, with constant light and subtle but mind-destroying tactics, given no access to a course of legal action to defend themselves.

Meng Wanzhou leaves her Vancouver home with a security detail.

Don Mackinnon/AFP/Getty Images

Huawei's CFO, on the other hand, has been given bail, and leave to live a normal life in Vancouver at either of her two luxury mansions. Charges against Michael Kovrig, a Canadian diplomat on leave, are "completely baseless" and "groundless", according to Robert Malley, president of the International Crisis Group, a conflict resolution organization that had hired him. In his work, Kovrig was "open and transparent"; on the other hand, Chinese officials have been anything but; failing to provide any evidence that the two men were involved in espionage activities as Chinese authorities claim..

They are being used as leverage, to force the government of Canada, to secure their release by waiving the U.S. arrest warrant, despite the extradition treaty between the United States and Canada, and allowing Meng Wanzhou to go free. "It's deeply disappointing, but it's wholly unsurprising. From the very beginning, this has been a political case, not a legal one", observed Mr. Malley, of the standoff between the government of Canada's position and the coercive one of China.

"We are using a wide range of public and private measures to ensure that everything is being done to get the Michaels home", assured Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The two Michaels could be forgiven in believing otherwise. For in response to Beijing's belligerent and strident accusations of Canada behaving in a 'racist' manner by arresting Ms.Meng, and refusing to see 'the error of their ways', releasing her and apologizing, thus securing the release of the Michaels, Canada has been adamant that its position follows the rule of law.

Meng Wanzhou leaves B.C. Supreme Court after losing bid to stop her extradition

But the government of Canada also has not committed itself to reacting in a manner that would give further offence to China. Whereas China arrested two Canadians without cause, gave two other Canadians arrested on drug trafficking charges death penalties, halted the importation of canola products, beef and swine exports from Canada as further penalties, Canada has quietly sought to appease Beijing. Where it has the option of reciprocating on trade issues through the imposition of stiff duties on Chinese imports into Canada, and withdrawal of Canada from the Asian Bank controlled by Beijing, for starters.

The suspense around the government of Canada holding off on making a final decision over whether to allow China's premier telecommunications giant Huawei, whose growth and prominence came at the expense of Canada's Nortel Communications when Huawei used cyberespionage to hijack Nortel secret data to benefit themselves and in the process bringing Nortel to ruin should finally spur Canada to reject Huawei as a partner in Canada's 5G upgrade as its Five Eyes partners have done. To such a scenario, Beijing warned Canada there would be 'consequences'.

Chinese prosecutors said Friday that Michael Kovrig, right, and Michael Spavor have been charged. (The Associated Press/International Crisis Group/The Canadian Press)