Celebrating China's Olympics Coup, Abandoning The Michaels

"China is threatening our citizens and undermining our rights and freedoms with its covert operations in Canada. Everything should be under consideration to defend Canada and Canadians – including a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics ."

"[This is an option where this country has some leverage.] Canada is a winter sports powerhouse. No Winter Olympics could be a success without Canada’s participation."

Michael Chong, the Conservative foreign affairs critic

 

"It is now impossible to remain ambivalent on China, knowing what they are doing in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, the South China Sea, etc., and the way they have punished Canada for the arrest of Meng Wanzhou," 

"[Canada should adopt a concerted approach with our allies, and threaten an Olympic boycott] if they don’t allow a UN delegation to go to Xinjiang to investigate the situation of the Uyghurs, repeal the National Security Law (in Hong Kong), or suspend its application and free the two Michaels."

Guy St-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China 

 

"Olympism is 'based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles ... with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity'."

Olympic Charter

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Beijing 2020 headquarters  Beijing Organizing Committee

Canada's foreign affairs department has issued a travel advisory for Canadians planning to visit China:

China - Exercise a high degree of caution Exercise a high degree of caution in China due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws. This makes sense. The risk of such arrest is high; witness the fate of  two Canadians who happened to be in China at a time when the Chinese Communist Party was casting its eye about to identify vulnerabilities to enable them to punish Canada for detaining the CFO of Huawei Technologies Co. on an extradition warrant with the U.S.

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were abducted, accused of endangering China's security and held on espionage charges, incommunicado, without direct access to consular assistance, much less legal advice and a lawyer to represent them. Four other Canadians are being held on drug charges, sentenced to death, following the detention of Meng Wanzhou, who is free to live in her two Vancouver mansions awaiting extradition hearings. 

 

People hold signs calling for China to release Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig during an extradition hearing for Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, March 6, 2019. Photo by Lindsey Wasson /Reuters

Another advisory was issued to Canadians after Beijing imposed its National Security Law on Hong Kong, to the effect that: Canadians in Hong Kong "may be at an increased risk of arbitrary detention on national security grounds and possible extradition to mainland China". In fact that law, (NSL) goes much further, Article 38 states "This Law shall apply to offences under this Law committed against the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from outside the Region by a person who is not a permanent resident of the Region". 

 

In other words, anyone living anywhere, within or outside China us to be considered answerable to that law. This is Beijing claiming judicial jurisdiction throughout the world based on the wording of the NSL. Closer to home since the law's introduction, pro-democracy leaders have been imprisoned in Hong Kong, journalists have been prosecuted and elected Hong Kong lawmakers have been summarily disqualified from office while young people of Hong Kong risk their lives to leave for elsewhere in the hopes they can continue campaigning outside of China.

 

Beijing Line-up 2020   Beijing Organizing Committee 2020 Winter Games

 

The Chinese ambassador to Canada as good as implied that the 300,000 Hong Kongers with dual Canadian-Chinese citizenship might be vulnerable, their "health and safety" under threat with continuing worsening relations between China and Canada. The United Kingdom declared China in "clear breach" of the Sino-British Joint Declaration dating from the handover of the British-administered colony of Hong Kong to mainland China, stating it had "broken its promises and undermined Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy". Canada, on the other hand, stricken with trade boycotts, threats, the detention of Canadians, fears antagonizing Beijing further.

That the  government of Justin Trudeau and the Canadian Olympic Committee have no interest in reacting to Chinese aggression, its threats and its damage to the lives of Canadians held for years in Chinese prisons, much less the damage it has wrought on the Canadian economy, and its infiltration into Canadian politics, academia and society in general to gather intelligence and to threaten Chinese-Canadians who champion a free and democratic Hong Kong, is quite stunning. 

And in the shadow of all this background, with Canada's foreign affairs department warning Canadians not to travel to Beijing, to avoid risking arbitrary detention, Canada and the Olympics Committee see nothing amiss in celebrating the 2020 Winter Games held in Beijing, to support Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party in being the first and only city to host both Summer and Winter Olympics. That while Canadians are held in solitary confinement and abused by inhumane conditions and treatment, Canada is not averse to sending its Olympic team to China.

 

There’s been talk Canada should boycott the Beijing Olympics with Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig still in jail. Photo by Oriental Image via Reuters Conne