Kovrig and Spavor: China set to begin trial of two Canadians

China has announced it will begin trials for the two Canadians it detained in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a telecoms executive.

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained in December 2018, days after Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States.

Canada’s foreign minister, Marc Garneau, said embassy staff in Beijing had been notified that court hearings for the two men were scheduled to take place on Friday and Monday.

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“The arbitrary detention of Mr Kovrig and Mr Spavor is a top priority for the government of Canada and we continue to work tirelessly to secure their immediate release,” Garneau said in a statement on Wednesday. “We believe these detentions are arbitrary, and remain deeply troubled by the lack of transparency surrounding these proceedings.”

Officials had anticipated China would move ahead with the trials after a state-backed editorial last week suggested court appearances for the two men were imminent.

Kovrig and Spavor have been held without bail for nearly 830 days, since they were detained soon after Meng was arrested on a US warrant in Vancouver.

Meng, who appeared in court on Wednesday, is fighting extradition to the US, where she faces charges of bank fraud and conspiracy related to a Huawei subsidiary’s alleged violations of US sanctions on Iran. Both Meng and the Chinese telecom giant deny any wrongdoing, and used Wednesday’s hearing to argue Canadian authorities were “deliberately deceptive” when they arrested her, also alleging that law enforcement officials violated her charter of rights. She is out on bail in a multi-million dollar home in Vancouver.

China has revealed few details of the charges against the men but the Global Times, a state-backed newspaper, said Kovrig was “accused of having used an ordinary passport and business visa to enter China to steal sensitive information and intelligence through contacts in China since 2017, while Spavor was accused of being a key source of intelligence for Kovrig”.

Chinese courts have a notoriously high conviction rates and in some cases, a guilty verdict in espionage cases can mean life in prison.

It is unclear what access will be permitted in the courtroom, but Canadian officials have asked for permission to attend the proceedings.

While the news of the impending trials has dashed hopes the men will be released, experts say Canada remains in a better position than when the men were first detained.

“The Biden administration has made it very clear that it is linking China’s treatment of America’s allies to American relations with China,” said Stephanie Carvin, a professor of international relations at Carleton University. For Canadian officials who struggled to get the former Trump administration to lobby on their behalf, the change in leadership has been a welcome development.

At the same time, the men are widely seen as pawns in a broader geopolitical fight from which China is seemingly unwilling to back down.

“For [president] Xi Jinping, being seen as a defender of China and Chinese interests abroad is more important than a better relationship with the United States,” said Carvin. “These are costs that they are willing to bear. We’ve seen them resort to trade wars that inevitably hurt Chinese consumers, but are seen as serving a greater interest.”

Because Huawei represents Chinese technological and industrial ambition, the arrest of its executive – who is also the daughter of its founder – has been something party leadership has been unwilling to tolerate, said Carvin.

“This is why it’s so much more than just one executive and two kidnapped Canadians. It’s about China’s role in the world and what it is willing to tolerate from the countries,” she said. “And unless China feels like it will pay a huge cost for its actions, I don’t see them letting this go.”