- Feng Zhaoyin, Gordon Corera, Jessica Murphy
- BBC reporter
Image source,Reuters
The former diplomat, Kang Mingkai, hugged his wife after arriving in Toronto.
A month ago on the tarmac at Toronto Pearson Airport, the moment when Michael Kovrig hugged his wife Vina Nadjibulla was recorded by a photojournalist. At that time, he had spent more than 1,000 days in a concrete cell in China.
It was an emotional reunion, because Canadians all know that this is not an ordinary homecoming.
Kovrig and his Canadian compatriot Michael Spavor (Michael Spavor) are already known all over the world as “Two Michaels” (“Two Michaels”, Kovrig’s English name is also “Michael”).
They were detained because they were accused of being spies, and both denied the charges. Canada arrested a Chinese businessman at the request of the US authorities in December 2018, and the detention of the two Michaels was widely regarded as a response from Beijing.
This Chinese businessman named Meng Wanzhou is not an ordinary corporate executive. She is the chief financial officer of Huawei, the world‘s largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, and a leading figure in the country’s technology sector. She is also the daughter of the company’s founder Ren Zhengfei, who was a member of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Image source,AFP via Getty Images
Therefore, when the United States sought the extradition of Meng Wanzhou from Canada on the grounds of violating sanctions, it caused a strong shock in China, especially among business elites.
The day before Kang Mingkai returned home, US prosecutors allowed Meng Wanzhou to leave Canada. Then she returned to her hometown and received a heroic welcome in a bright red outfit.
“If faith has color, it must be Chinese red,” she said at the time.
Although this diplomatic standoff, which had lasted for several years, suddenly came to an end in such a rapid manner, the repercussions of this incident will continue for a long time-an analysis warns that the way it ends shows a signal that China will use Any tough strategy, including “hostage diplomacy.”
Behind the two release operations
It was December 10, 2018-nine days after Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver-two Canadians, both named Michael in English, were suddenly arrested in China.
Kang Mingkai was a diplomat on leave at the time, working as a Northeast Asian affairs consultant for the International Crisis Group in Beijing.
Spaver is a businessman and one of the founding members of the Paektu Cultural Exchange (Paektu Cultural Exchange), a company that promotes international business and cultural ties with North Korea.
Little is known about Spaffer’s detention in Dandong, near the border with North Korea, but according to Mr. Kang Mingkai’s wife, her diplomat husband was held in solitary confinement in Beijing for six months.
Margaret McCuaig-Johnston of the University of Ottawa and the University of Alberta’s China Research Institute said that in China, detainees are in the first few years. Months will be questioned for many hours a day, and they are usually tied up.
Both have limited opportunities to talk to consular officials or family members.
After the first few months passed, Kang Mingkai was no longer held in solitary confinement. Najibullah described the detention method as a “monk-like” condition in a “barren” area. He would be called up early every morning and eat rice for breakfast. Porridge and vegetables.
He will keep moving in the concrete cell and walk 7000 steps a day. She revealed to the Crisis Group’s podcast that he would spend time meditating and reading.
Both were eventually interrogated behind closed doors in China. Spaffer was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 11 years in prison, but Kovrig was still undecided when he was released last month.
Image source,Handout Global Affairs Canada
Spaffer also attached this photo when making a statement after his release.
When the news that they were about to go home came out, Praveen Madhiraju, the general counsel of Cumming Kai’s think tank, said that his colleagues were ecstatic.
“I don’t think I have ever cried at work before,” he said, “but in the week he was released, the whole organization was crying. Michael has always been our colleague, even during his imprisonment.”
Meng Wanzhou’s house arrest in Vancouver is quite different. She lives in a mansion estimated to be worth 13 million Canadian dollars (10 million U.S. dollars; 7.6 million pounds). She can go out during the day and allows her husband and children to visit, who was allowed to enter Canada during the global pandemic.
In court days, her fashionable design clothes often make the monitor she wears on her ankle under court order more eye-catching.
Sudden agreement
On September 24, when news of Meng Wanzhou’s release came out, her legal case had been publicly fermented in Canada for three years, and a Canadian judge would soon announce whether the U.S. extradition request would be approved.
Huawei also adopted a parallel strategy, on the one hand legally questioning Canada’s extradition, on the other hand, it tried to negotiate with the United States and find a political solution.
A senior Huawei executive was sent from the company’s Shenzhen headquarters to stay in Washington for several months in an attempt to seek the release of Meng Wanzhou through behind-the-scenes meetings and discussions.
The company claims that the case has become a problem in US-China relations (and involving Canada), and resolving it will be a positive step.
Two people familiar with the situation told the BBC that the dialogue between the company and the U.S. Department of Justice had a breakthrough this summer.
The US authorities claimed that Huawei and Meng Wanzhou misled the US government on the company’s business in Iran, and that Iran is being sanctioned by the US.
They also sought criminal prosecutions against Huawei and Meng Wanzhou.
Huawei’s bottom line is that Meng Wanzhou will not plead guilty to the charges, while the United States insists that it will not withdraw any prosecution against the company. The two parties finally agreed to release Meng Wanzhou, and the lawsuit against the company will be retained.
According to the Globe and Mail, Canadian ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, also stayed in Washington for three weeks this spring to discuss the possibility of reaching an agreement with Huawei to release Cumming Kai and Spaffer.
In the end, the political solution won. Meng Wanzhou denied the charge of fraud and admitted that the information about the company was distorted in order to avoid certain U.S. sanctions.
On the other hand, the United States terminated her request for extradition from Canada.
The release of two Michaels
At the same time, since 2018, two Michael’s family members, friends and colleagues have been trying their best to release them publicly and privately.
Pravin said that Najibullah was the “main actor” in the process of fighting for the release of her husband, Kang Mingkai, and accomplished it with “skills and enthusiasm.”
His colleagues helped follow up his situation, including submitting the incident to the UN Security Council.
During his detention, Kang Mingkai was allowed to apply for a few books and was able to send and receive some letters occasionally. In order to encourage his morale, his company colleagues would read the same books as him, and proceeded like a separate tablet throughout the company. Support games like test challenges.
Pravin said that he was able to hold on to “the plank support is surprisingly long, I think it can be 15 minutes.”
Spaffer’s closest family and friends also followed up on his case and raised funds to support his release.
In a statement in early October, he said that he was “unthankful” for the support he has received around the world.
He also said: “I have been grateful for being able to come out, and all the simple things around me.”
Canadian officials also pressured allies to request support.
This eventually turned into a joint statement, signed by some 60 countries in February, condemning some countries for detaining foreign citizens as a diplomatic bargaining chip.
The United States insisted that the release of the two Michaels was not included in the agreement reached with Huawei.
Image source,Reuters
The two Michaels were greeted by Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau after the plane landed.
Canadian Ambassador to the United States Kirsten Hillman (Kirsten Hillman) also stated that there is no exchange of terms in the two release arrangements.
However, both Canada and the United States have made no secret of the fact that they want the two to go home.
US President Joe Biden (Joe Biden) and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Justin Trudeau) discussed their case on August 2, and Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed their case on September 9. Related discussion.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Xi Jinping “personally concerned” the incident.
Then, within a few hours after Meng Wanzhou was released, the two Michaels also boarded the plane returning to Canada.
Image source,Getty Images
Meng Wanzhou received a heroic welcome at the airport.
“No one will admit that there is an agreement. It is a matter of face first,” said Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute for Sino-US Relations at the Wilson Center.
However, he said: “Of course there is an agreement. You know, can this prove it? No. I have never been to the Arctic Ocean, but I am quite sure that the water in the Arctic Ocean is cold and wet. Even if I have never really felt it. . Why? Because I’m not an idiot. And I know what the North Pole is and what the ocean is. So obviously, there is an agreement.”
China has always denied that the detention of the two Canadians is revenge for the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, and the return of the two Michaels seems to be a concession, and the two things are indeed related.
McCaig-Johnston said that the effect of this timing is “disturbing” because it sends a message to all countries that China will use foreign citizens as a bargaining chip in diplomatic disputes.
When the two Michaels were arrested, she was in Shanghai and a reliable source told her that Beijing had a list of about 100 Canadians and that “they can be arrested for questioning at any time”.
But Yves Tiberghien, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia, doubts whether Beijing is trying to deliver a direct message.
“We know that there are tense negotiations between the United States and China, and this includes calls between (Biden and Xi Jinping),” he said.
He attributed the rapid release of the two to “the result of diplomatic negotiations.”
Aftermath
Tibergian said the incident aroused anger in both China and Canada.
Canadians were angered and questioned the way their country treats China. In China, this scene is seen as one of the West’s actions to “strangle” Huawei and suppress its global business ambitions.
Ambassador Bao Damin told the parliament last year that the relationship between the two countries had been so cold before that, at that time, Beijing had no “any response” to this incident.
Bao Damin said that it was not until the Group of 20 summit (G20) held in Osaka in June 2019 that Trudeau, who was sitting next to Xi Jinping, had the opportunity to say: “We must resolve this matter.”
Few analysts think that this agreement can repair all the damage to diplomatic relations previously caused, or change the two countries’ consideration of their own national interests.
The end of the Meng Wanzhou incident did not end the battle between Washington and Huawei, which is still on the blacklist of the US economy. This sanction has a huge impact on its mobile phone business.
Huawei still faces prosecutions for extortion and conspiracy to steal trade secrets, and it still denies these allegations from the United States.
Image source,Getty Images
Huawei’s flagship store in Shanghai.
The United States and the United Kingdom have already taken action to remove Huawei from their 5G mobile phone network business on the grounds of national security. Now, after the Canadian decision has been delayed, Trudeau has stated that there will be a decision in the next “few weeks.”
The case of Meng Wanzhou is not completely over. She must comply with certain conditions, including not being able to publicly refute the facts stated in the joint statement before December 2022.
Timbergian said that although the solution to this incident “revealed the cloak of daily diplomacy” in Canada, all this happened under the back of a larger global power structure. China’s economy is on the rise, and the world is also There is a need for cooperation on a series of major issues such as climate change.
“We have to walk this very difficult line now, because China is more arbitrary and high-pressure, but fundamentally speaking, it is a partner on global issues.”
Canadian public opinion has turned to dissatisfaction with China greatly, because of the two Michaels, because of the way Uyghurs are treated. McCaig-Johnston said that this type of issue shows that Canada-China relations have been irreparably damaged.
This incident also brought attention to other Canadians who are still detained in China, including Uyghur activists Huseyin Celil and Robert Schellenberg, who had been in the most tense relations between Canada and China in the past few years. Sentenced to death for drug smuggling.
Meng Wanzhou Released and Leaving Canada “Thanks to the Motherland” Ending Three Years of Detention
Debo said that in the short term, China seems to be the winner of this agreement, while the United States gets very little and Canada gets nothing.
“China has got a hero and a topic,” he said.
The return of Meng Wanzhou has become a national celebration event in China, which has exacerbated the perception that she and Huawei are victims of “political persecution” in the United States. Chinese state media stated that her return showed that “no force can stop China’s progress.”
But in the long run, this may prove to be a tragic victory, directing the future focus to China’s hostage diplomacy.
“If the Chinese are honest, when they reflect after the incident, they will agree that this incident has damaged their image,” said Guy Saint Jacques, the former Canadian ambassador to China. I learned a lot of what I call the “dark side of China” in the past week.”