A Second Canadian Citizen Has Suddenly Disappeared in China
Think neutrality exists in politics? It doesn’t. A trade war is allegedly taking place between the US and China, and in the middle between the two world powers if that is even a realistic way to look at it at this point, Canada might be stuck.
A former Canadian diplomat was placed under arrest in Beijing in retaliation for the Vancouver, Canada detention of the Huawei CFO. In addition, a second person has been questioned by the authorities in China, which on the surface appears to be further intensifying tension between China and Canada.
After being questioned by Chinese officials, the second person reached out to the government of Canada, according to Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.
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At that point, Canada lost contact with him. At this moment his whereabouts are unknown, and Global Affairs Canada reports that they are in communication with his family.
“We haven’t been able to make contact with him since he let us know about this,” Freeland said to reporters Wednesday in Ottawa, Canada. “We are working very hard to ascertain his whereabouts and we have also raised this case with Chinese authorities.”
According to an article from the Globe and Mail, the man in question was identified as Michael Spavor, a Canadian man whose company, Peaktu Cultural Exchange brings hockey players and tourists into North Korea.
He is a man people know about, the very person who gained fame for his role in arranging a visit to Pyongyang, North Korea for Dennis Rodman, the former NBA player notorious for meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on that trip.
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They tried to reach Spavor on his contact number in China and North Korea and it simply went straight to voicemail.
Spavor’s personal social media page on Facebook contains pictures of him with Kim Jong-un, even including one photo with both Dennis Rodman and Kim at some undisclosed location. Without a doubt this person has acquaintanced himself with powerful people, and that doesn’t always work to a person’s benefit.
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This is all occurring after China’s spy agency made the decision to detain Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, in Beijing on Monday.
He was on leave from the foreign service, and that happened to occur nine days after Canada made the decision to arrest Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, yet that was at the request of the United States Department of Justice. Who is really pulling the strings here?
Bloomberg reports that one possibility in the situation is that Kovrig could have been caught up in “recent rule changes” in China that affect NGO’s. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang reported the ICG wasn’t authorized to work in China at all.
“We welcome foreign travelers. But if they engage in activities that clearly violate Chinese laws and regulations, then it is totally another story,” he said, denying that he had any information on Kovrig in specific.
Here’s the thing: how are people going to do business with China when things are so tightly controlled in the country? It is without a doubt one of the most totalitarian countries on the planet, and they’re trying to set up the most intensive and law-connected surveillance system in the world.
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Foreign NGO’s, non-governmental organizations are now required to register with the authorities in China, under a 2017 law. How did people expect the Chinese government to do honest business?