China prosecutes two Canadian men over alleged espionage

China has started prosecuting two Canadian men detained since 2018 on spying charges, in a move likely to increase tensions between Beijing and Ottawa.

The Supreme People’s Procuratorate said that ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor were “suspected of foreign espionage” and leaking “state secrets”.

Their arrest came after Canadian authorities arrested Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver on a US warrant.

Supporters of the two Canadians have accused Beijing of using them as diplomatic hostages.

Mr Kovrig – a human rights NGO worker and ex-diplomat – and Mr Spavor – a North Korea-focused consultant – were detained by Chinese authorities on December 10, 2018.

At the time, Beijing was accused of wanting revenge for the arrest in Canada of Ms Meng, who worked for Chinese communications company Huawei. US prosecutors wanted Ms Meng extradited from Vancouver, where she was on bail, so she could face fraud charges.

In December 2019, China’s foreign ministry said it had ended an investigation into the two men, and the case had been turned over to prosecutors.

Mr Kovrig’s case is being handled by prosecutors in Beijing, and Mr Spavor’s is in the north-eastern province of Liaoning.

Canada has called the arrests “arbitrary”.

Last month, Ms Meng lost a legal bid to avoid extradition to the United States to face bank fraud charges, dashing hopes for an end to her house arrest in Vancouver.

She recently raised a new argument in a Canadian court in a bid to fight extradition, court documents released on Monday showed.

In January of this year, a Vancouver courtroom became the unlikely battleground for growing tensions between China and the West, as a Canadian judge began hearing evidence on whether to extradite Ms Meng.

Canadian authorities arrested Ms Meng, the eldest daughter of Huawei’s founder, in late 2018 while she was in transit at Vancouver airport, on an extradition request from the US.

American authorities have accused the “princess of Huawei” of fraud for actions that allegedly broke US sanctions against Iran.

Since then, a diplomatic maelstorm has embroiled China, Canada and the US.

Beijing is furious at Ms Meng’s arrest and is demanding her release. It believes her case stems from political motivations to contain the rise of China.

Shortly after her arrest, Chinese authorities, in an apparent retaliation, detained the two Canadians living in China and accused them of espionage.  

Diplomatic relations between Canada and China have hit rock bottom over the arrests, damaging trade between the countries.

Monthly consular visits for Mr Kovrig and Mr Spavor had been suspended since the coronavirus outbreak started in China, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in April, amid concerns for their deteriorating health.

But China’s foreign ministry has insisted the pair are in good health, and that their detention facility was “in a region that is not particularly affected by Covid-19”.

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