The trial on Monday of analyst and former diplomat Michael Kovrig in Beijing follows an initial hearing in the case of entrepreneur Michael Spavor in the northeastern city of Dandong on Friday.
Canadian diplomats have been refused access to the trials. A notice on the website of the Beijing No. 2 People's Intermediate Court explains that "because the case involves state secrets, the court conducted a closed hearing against Canadian defendant Kang Mingkai (Kovrig's Chinese name) for spying," adding that it would "select a time" to pass a verdict.
In spite of the warning, diplomats and journalists showed up to seek information and show support.
Outside Beijing's No. 2 Intermediate Court, Jim Nickel, the Canadian Embassy’s deputy chief of mission, told journalists he had been told the trial had begun, but was barred from entry in what he said was a violation of China's international and bilateral treaty obligations.
‘It’s troubling’: Outside a #Beijing court, diplomats from 26 countries call out support for #Canada & the #UnitedStates to get Michael Kovrig & Michael Spavor freed. They were denied access to Kovrig’s trial now underway, despite international agreements. @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/T8ynN3XWqr
— Janis Mackey Frayer (@janisfrayer) March 22, 2021
“Michael Kovrig has been detained for more than two years now. He's been arbitrarily detained and now we see that the court process itself is not transparent," Nickel told reporters. “We're very troubled by this but we thank those who have come out from the embassies here in Beijing and the international support that we've had for Michael, for Canada and the call that many of us are making for their immediate release."
Nickel said 26 countries had sent representatives to show their support, including France, the US, the UK, Australia and many European nations. It wasn't clear how long the trial would last or when a verdict would be announced.
Irresponsible remarks
At a daily afternoon news briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, “the Canadian side made irresponsible remarks on China’s law-based handling of the cases of Canadian citizens with some other countries’ diplomats in China, which is a gross interference in China’s judicial sovereignty."
China's handling of the cases is “beyond reproach," Hua said, while calling Canada hypocritical because it also reserves the right to try cases involving state secrets behind closed doors.
Leverage
However Beijing is likely to use the Kovrig and Spavor cases as leverage to obtain the release of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei founder, the millionaire Ren Zhengfei, who was arrested at the request of the US at the airport in Vancouver, British Columbia, in December 2018. The two Canadians were detained in China just days later.
Meng is sought by the US on fraud charges related to the telecom giant’s dealings with Iran, which is under American financial sanctions.
Days before the Kovrig trial, a spokesperson for China's embassy to Canada said that the "Meng Wanzhou incident is plotted by the United States with the purpose to bring down Chinese high tech enterprises. Ms. Meng Wanzhou has been arbitrarily detained by the Canadian government at the request of the US side for over two years despite the fact that she hasn't violated any Canadian law," adding that it was a "grave political incident."
Obstructing justice.
According to court documents of the US Eastern District of New York, filed on 24 January 2019, Huawei was indicted with "conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ("IEEPA"), violations of the IEEPA, money laundering conspiracy, and conspiracy to obstruct justice."
The document charges that Skycom Tech. Co. Ltd, a subsidary of Huawei, provided telecom services in Iran, in violation of US sanctions.
But while Meng was released on bail just twelve days after she was detained (against a 7 million USD bail), the two Canadians have been held ever since. They were charged in June 2020 under China’s national security laws.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticised Beijing for holding the trial “in secret” without access for consular officials.
“We are deeply troubled by the total lack of transparency surrounding these hearings and we continue to work towards an immediate end to their arbitrary detention.” https://t.co/srNT8JSOR1 pic.twitter.com/PL1XxUUivu
— Foreign Policy CAN (@CanadaFP) March 22, 2021
“Their arbitrary detention is completely unacceptable, as is the lack of transparency around these court proceedings,” Trudeau said in Ottawa.
Rule of law
“China needs to understand that it is not just about two Canadians. It’s about respect for the rule of law and relationships with a broad range of Western countries that are at play with the arbitrary detention and the coercive diplomacy that they’ve engaged in.”
Meng’s case has deeply angered China’s government, which has promoted Huawei as a global leader in mobile communications technology, and sees her detention as a deliberate attempt to denegrate Chinese companies and damage the nation's growing economic and political clout.
Beijing has demanded Meng's immediate and unconditional release, and has restricted various Canadian exports, including canola oil seed. The Chinese authorities have imposed death sentences on four Canadians convicted of drug smuggling.
The US and Canada have pledged to work together with China to seek the release of Kovrig and Spavor, but meetings between top US and Chinese diplomats last week — the first since President Joe Biden took office — seemed to offer little hope.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Chinese human rights abuses “threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability,” while senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi said China “will not accept unwarranted accusations from the US side,” warning that relations had fallen “into a period of unprecedented difficulty."
(With AP)
