Another Canadian arrested in China

A second Canadian detained in China for "suspicion of involvement in activities endangering China's national security", raising fears that Beijing will host retaliation for the arrest of a Chinese leader in Vancouver, Canada.

Chinese media quoted local security officials as saying that Michael Kovrig, an badyst at the International Crisis Group, and Michael Spavor, head of cultural exchange with North Korea, were arrested on Monday.

The two men worked for non-governmental organizations and appear to have been surprised for violating China's new rigid rules to control the work of foreign NGOs in China, as part of a wider crackdown. of Civil Society and Freedom of Expression .

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada refused to draw a parallel between the arrest of these men and the legal battle to obtain the release on bail of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, who is currently in custody for extradition to the United States.

But badysts say that it's becoming more and more obvious that it's about acts of retribution. In a video published Thursday, Hu Xijin, editor of the Global Times newspaper, Global Times, warned in English that China's vengeance against Canada "will be far worse than the detention of a Canadian".

Chrystia Freeland, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated that "Canada is deeply concerned" and raised cases directly with the Chinese authorities.

The Canadian government recommends embbady staff in China to take extra precautions and urges to strengthen security outside the country's embbady in Beijing, have government officials told the press. Until now, Ottawa has not changed its travel guidelines for Canadians visiting China.

Meng Wanzhou's Chinese Imprisonment

The diplomatic impbade was caused by Meng's prison daughter of the founder of Huawei, in Vancouver on December 1 . She is wanted in New York to face charges of fraud related to the alleged violation of US sanctions against Iran.

After a three-day hearing, Meng was released Tuesday after paying a $ 7.4 million bail . She must wear an electronic monitor at the ankle and will be monitored 24 hours.

The case opened a new front in the trade war between China and the United States, but Beijing, apparently anxious to achieve an agreement with the Trump government, directed his anger at Ottawa rather than Washington.

China is outraged that Meng is still being fired Extradition to the United States and threatening "serious consequences" for Canada if Meng is not released.

Under the extradition treaty between Canada and the United States, US officials have 60 days from the date of Meng's arrest to file a full extradition request. . Canada will then have 30 days to determine whether to initiate the extradition process.

According to the Canadian government, more than 90% of extradition requests made by the United States are accepted.

The Prisons of Canadians

Spavor and Kovrig are currently under investigation by local bodies of the state security apparatus rather than by the police regular, underlining the gravity of the situation. In both cases, local media reported that they were being held "suspected of endangering China's national security." Chinese authorities have not confirmed the information.

Spavor was arrested in Dandong, a city in the north of the country, where he lives and directs the Paektu Cultural Exchange, an organization that promotes sports, commercial and cultural exchanges with North Korea. He participated in organizing the first trip of former US basketball star Dennis Rodman to North Korea and met with ruler Kim Jong-a at the time.

More recently, he tried to promote business investment in North Korea, as the diplomatic climate became more favorable.

Spavor was scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Monday to speak at a conference on North Korea on Tuesday night. "I will be in Seoul on Monday for a few days for a new consultant job," he wrote on Twitter on Monday.

But he never arrived at his destination, reported NKNews, citing several people aware of his itinerary.

Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat working in China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula for the think tank International Crisis Group, was arrested Monday in Beijing .

A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the NGO was not legally registered with Chinese authorities, suggesting that this meant that Kovrig was in violation of Chinese law. "The organization concerned has violated Chinese laws because it is not registered in China," spokesman Lu Kang said Wednesday during a press conference.

A senior Canadian government official said before the news of Spavor's arrest that Canada had no consular access to Kovrig and did not know where he was. The International Crisis Group also said Wednesday that it was not able to contact Kovrig. The group called for his immediate release.

The Pavel cultural exchange of the Spavor group is identified as an international non-governmental organization. But it is not clear if this is registered with the Chinese government or if that is why Spavor has been arrested.

China's Tighter Laws

China has tightened its rules on non-governmental organizations operating in the country, as part of a wider crackdown on civil society and freedom of movement. ;expression.

According to a law that came into force in early 2017, foreign NGOs were placed under the supervision of the Public Security Secretariat instead of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which traditionally managed them. The goal is to prevent them from harming the security of the state, which could be considered a threat to the Communist Party.

NGOs are now subject to unannounced police controls and strict control over their activities and budgets, and face the constant threat of closure.

Citizen groups, Western governments and lobbies of the business community condemned the new rules, saying they would impede freedom of expression.

There is a precedent for Canadians detained in exchange for the treatment of a Chinese citizen. In 2014, Chinese authorities arrested a Canadian couple who had been living in China for 28 years. They were Christian aid workers and operated a coffee shop in Dandong, on the border with North Korea.

They were arrested after Canada arrested a Chinese man who wanted to be extradited to the United States in a case of industrial espionage. The woman, Julia Garrett, was detained for six months, but her husband, Kevin Garrett, was jailed for two years.

Relationship with the commercial war

Although the moment seems to coincide, since the arrest warrant Meng. As of August 22, China regards the arrest of the executive as an attempt to influence in the US-China trade war and called for the immediate release of Meng.

This week, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, said: comments that have done nothing to cancel this perception. In an interview with Reuters, he said that he could intervene in the Justice Department's case against Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive of Huawei Technologies.

"All that is good for this country, I would do it," he told the news agency. "If I think it's good for what will certainly be the biggest trade deal ever concluded – which is very important, it's good for national security – I would certainly intervene if I do it. needed, "said the president, referring to ongoing negotiations with China, aimed at ending the trade war .

William Reinsch, former head of the Clinton Department of Commerce, said the president's statement "ridicules the rule of law and does not make us better than the Chinese." If Trump wants to intervene in the case as a bargaining tactic, Reinsch said that he "should remain silent until Xi comes to him and asks for help".

Officially, since Meng was arrested, the United States. they spoke little about the arrest. The US ambbadador to Canada, Kelly Knight Craft, denied the political nature of the case. "It's part of our legal process," she told reporters in Ottawa.