The former Canadian diplomat detained this week by China — amid the furor over the arrest in Canada of a top Chinese tech executive — remained locked up Wednesday, with China’s spin careening from denying the man’s detention to claiming he’s a national security risk.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe detention of Michael Kovrig on Monday is seen by some as a retaliatory act for the legal saga engulfing Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who faces possible extradition to the U.S. after being picked up by Canadian authorities earlier this month. Meng, who was granted bail Tuesday but must remain in Vancouver, is accused of using a Hong Kong shell company to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.\n\n\n“If there is such a thing, please do not worry, it is assured that China’s relevant departments will definitely handle it according to law,\u201d Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters on Wednesday when asked about Kovrig\u2019s detention.\n\n“I do not have information to provide you here,” he added.\n\nKang\u2019s statement was in direct contrast to a report published late Wednesday in the state-run Global Times newspaper, which cites the Beijing State Security Bureau as saying that Kovrig was detained on \u201csuspicion of jeopardizing China’s national security.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nIn this undated image released by Huawei, Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou is seen in a portrait photo.\n\nIn this undated image released by Huawei, Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou is seen in a portrait photo. (AP\/Huawei)\n\nCanadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale confirmed the detention of Kovrig on Tuesday and said Canada is very concerned. The U.S. State Department said it is also worried about the arrest and called on China to \u201cend all forms of arbitrary detention and to respect the protections and freedoms of all individuals under China\u2019s international human rights and consular commitments.”\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re obviously worried whenever a Canadian is put in a situation that puts them at some risk or jeopardy where there\u2019s no apparent or obvious cause or trigger for that,\u201d Goodale said Tuesday. \u201cSo before we characterize it, we want to make sure we get all the facts.\u201d\n\nKovrig is currently employed by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based organization that aims to \u201cprevent wars and shape policies that will build a more peaceful world.”\n\n\u201cAs Senior Adviser for North East Asia he conducts research and provides analysis on foreign affairs and global security issues in North East Asia, particularly on China, Japan and the Korean peninsula,\u201d reads an excerpt of his bio on their website.\n\nBut Rob Malley, president of the company, told the Associated Press he thinks Kovrig was in Beijing on a personal trip and definitely not for any illegal purpose or for any reason that would undermine China’s national security.\n\nKang, meanwhile, says the organization is operating illegally in China since it is not registered there.\n\n“Once its staff become engaged in activities in China, it has already violated the law,” he said Wednesday.\n\nChinese law makes it extremely difficult for foreign non-governmental organizations to register because they have to find a local sponsor, James Zimmerman, a lawyer in Beijing and former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, told the Associated Press.\n\n“In my view (Kovrig’s custody) is purely for strategic reasons,” Zimmerman said.\n\nHu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times newspaper, wrote on Twitter that Kovrig\u2019s detention \u201cstemmed from Canada arresting Meng Wanzhou,\u201d but believes there is \u201cno evidence [that] suggests this is [the] Chinese government’s retaliation.\u201d\n\n\n\nZeng Yuan, a university student in Beijing, was among those who believe Kovrig’s case is related to Meng’s.\n\n“It is a kind of declaration to the Canadian government,” the finance student told the Associated Press. “This makes sense. China cannot sit and await its fate, and let them make ambiguous accusations against Chinese citizens.”\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The former Canadian diplomat detained this week by China — amid the furor over the arrest in Canada of a top Chinese tech executive — remained locked up Wednesday, with China’s spin careening from denying the man’s detention to claiming he’s a national security risk. The detention of Michael Kovrig on Monday is seen by some as a retaliatory act… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609","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\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2610,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609\/revisions\/2610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}