{"id":2586,"date":"2018-12-11T16:29:48","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T16:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/?p=2586"},"modified":"2018-12-11T16:29:48","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T16:29:48","slug":"michael-kovrig-canadian-ex-diplomat-held-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/2018\/12\/11\/michael-kovrig-canadian-ex-diplomat-held-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Kovrig: Canadian ex-diplomat ‘held in China’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A former Canadian diplomat has reportedly been detained in China and his current employer says it is working for his “prompt and safe release”.<\/p>\n

The International Crisis Group\u00a0said it was “aware of reports” of Michael Kovrig’s detention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Details are not yet clear. The news comes days after Canadian authorities arrested a top executive of the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

It is not known if there is a link between the two cases.<\/p>\n

Tensions between Canada and China have been high over the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of its founder, on Saturday 1 December.<\/p>\n

Mr Kovrig had previously worked as a diplomat in Beijing, Hong Kong and at the UN in New York.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Canada’s ministry of foreign affairs has not confirmed the report by Reuters news agency, which cited two unnamed sources.<\/p>\n

Mr Kovrig has been working since February 2017 as North East Asia senior advisor for the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank that focuses on conflict reduction research.<\/p>\n

He worked with Canada’s foreign affairs ministry between 2010 and 2016 and was posted in Hong Kong and Beijing between 2012 and 2016.<\/p>\n

Ms Meng faces extradition to the US on charges of fraud related to sanctions-breaking business dealings with Iran.<\/p>\n

She could be jailed for up to 30 years if found guilty.<\/p>\n

China has demanded that Canada release of Ms Meng or face consequences.<\/p>\n

She is scheduled to appear on Tuesday in the Supreme Court of British Columbia for the third day of her bail hearing.<\/p>\n

Her husband has offered C$15m ($11m; \u00a39m) – C$1m in cash and the couple’s two homes in Canada – as surety for Ms Meng’s release.<\/p>\n

Canadian Crown prosecutors have asked for bail to be denied because they believe the wealthy executive poses a flight risk.<\/p>\n

China’s foreign ministry also insisted on Tuesday that Canada failed to promptly notify Beijing immediately about Ms Meng’s arrest, according to a state media report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A former Canadian diplomat has reportedly been detained in China and his current employer says it is working for his “prompt and safe release”. The International Crisis Group\u00a0said it was “aware of reports” of Michael Kovrig’s detention. Details are not yet clear. The news comes days after Canadian authorities arrested a top executive of the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei in… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2587,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2586\/revisions\/2587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}