Open letter to Xi demands China release detained Canadians

A group of 143 former diplomats and scholars from 19 countries have penned an open letter to Xi Jinping, China’s president, demanding Beijing to “immediately release” two Canadians detained in China.

Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a prominent consultant on North Korean business issues, have been held for six weeks in Beijing. In their respective roles, the two frequently met with Chinese officials, researchers and scholars, the letter noted.

The “detentions send a message that this kind of constructive work is unwelcome and even risky in China,” the letter said. “That will lead to less dialogue and greater distrust, and undermine efforts to manage disagreements and identify common ground. Both China and the rest of the world will be worse off as a result.”

The pair disappeared as tensions escalated between Canada and China after Meng Wanzhou, a top executive from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, was arrested in December in Vancouver on a US extradition request related to Iran sanctions violations.

Although Beijing has denied any link between the detentions and Ms Meng, 46, the two men were seized shortly after China threatened “serious consequences” over her case.

Last week, China handed down a death sentence to a Canadian citizen on drug trafficking charges in a rushed retrial that experts say is another example of Beijing acting in retaliation for Meng, and further efforts to pressure Ottawa in a diplomatic row that has now lasted weeks.

A spate of British diplomats and politicians have signed the letter, including former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, former Ambassador to China Sir Christopher Hum, and Member of Parliament Lord David Alton.

Signatories also included Gareth Evans, the former foreign minister of Australia, two US deputy assistant secretaries of state, former ambassadors to China from Canada, the US, Australia, Germany, Sweden, and Mexico, and scholars Orville Schell of the Asia Society, Minxin Pei, a professor and expert on Chinese politics at Claremont McKenna College, and Bonnie Glaser, senior advisor for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US think tank.

Meng is currently under house arrest as her case remains pending. Kovrig and Spavor have been allowed a handful of consular visits in detention.