Canadian jailed by China in tit-for-tat dispute gets settlement

The Canadian government has reached a financial settlement with one of two Canadian men it says was arbitrarily detained by China for nearly three years in retaliation, the man’s lawyer said.

John K. Phillips, who represents Michael Spavor, told The Associated Press on Wednesday evening: “All I can say is that the matter between Mr. Spavor and the government of Canada has been resolved.”

Mr. Spavor, a businessman who did extensive business in North Korea, and Michael Kovrig, then a Canadian diplomat on leave working for a Belgium-based foreign policy analysis group, were arrested in China in December 2018. They were accused of espionage.

Their detentions in separate prisons were, Canadian officials argued, retaliation for the Canadian arrest of Meng Wanzhou, then chief financial officer of Chinese technology giant Huawei. That arrest took place at the request of the United States.

China released the two men in September 2021 after the US Justice Department struck a deal allowing Ms Meng to return to China in exchange for admitting wrongdoing in a fraud case.

The arrests of Mr. Spavor and Mr. Kovrig underscored the apparent willingness of the Chinese government under Xi Jinping to use arrests and long prison sentences to pressure Western governments to make concessions. They also made clear that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s efforts to improve Canadian-Chinese relations, which had become hostile under previous administrations, had failed.

Last year, Mr. Phillips said he was seeking 10.5 million Canadian dollars for Mr. Spavor. The Globe and Mail reported late Wednesday, citing an unnamed source, that the settlement was about $6 million.

Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry, released a statement that made no mention of a settlement.

“China’s arbitrary detention of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig was unjust and unacceptable,” the report said. “While the 1,019 days they were arbitrarily detained by China will never be erased, the Canadian government is committed to supporting them as they attempt to enter a new chapter in their lives, based on their individual circumstances and consequences. of their ordeal and suffering caused by their arbitrary detention by China.”

The ministry declined further comment.

In December, Mr. Kovrig told The Globe and Mail that he was also looking for a settlement of the government and said he would donate any amount in addition to his lost income and expenses to charity. He told the Toronto-based newspaper that the report that the government offered each of the men 3 million Canadian dollars, or $2.2 million, was “even beyond the scope of discussion.” According to him, the actual amount is ‘a lot lower’.

On Thursday, Mr. Kovrig declined to comment in an email on his talks with the government.

There is virtually no public information available about the settlement discussions, which were conducted privately and not through the courts. But a long article published last year by the Globe and Mail, and based largely on anonymous sources, said Mr. Spavor accused Mr. Kovrig of causing his detention by China.

According to the newspaper, Mr. Spavor claims that China singled him out because he unknowingly gave Mr. Kovrig information about North Korea that the diplomat then passed on to Canadian intelligence services. They in turn shared it with Canada’s allies.

In August 2021, Mr Spavor was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted of espionage. Mr. Kovrig was awaiting sentencing when he was returned to Canada.

Canadian officials have repeatedly denied that either man was involved in espionage and alleged that China engaged in a form of “hostage diplomacy” to force Ms. Meng’s release.

From his base in Dandong, China, Mr. Spavor led an organization that promoted cultural travel to North Korea. He had several high-level contacts there and once met Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea. In 2013, Mr. Spavor helped organize a highly publicized visit to North Korea by Dennis Rodman, the former NBA star.

In his email, Mr. Kovrig said he was “never involved in espionage activities.” He said: “Any insinuation that I was anything but open and honorable in my interactions with Michael Spavor is false.”

At the time of his arrest in China, Mr. Kovrig was on leave from Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, which lifted his diplomatic immunity, and was working as a senior advisor for the International Crisis Group.

In his email, Mr. Kovrig said that during his time as a diplomat and adviser, he worked to persuade China to convince North Korea to end its nuclear weapons and missile programs. That work, he said, “involved talking to people who had knowledge of the country, conducting analysis and making recommendations.”

Until his arrest, Mr. Kovrig said, “the Chinese government gave me no indication that it objected to my work or travel to China.” Chinese officials, he said, regularly invited him to meetings and conferences, including an invitation from the People’s Liberation Army to appear as a panelist at a forum it organized about two months before his arrest.

“The People’s Republic of China has wrongfully held me as a political hostage to blackmail the government of Canada,” he wrote, referring to the People’s Republic of China. “It is incorrect to suggest that I was detained for any other reason, and it reinforces the Chinese government’s propaganda.”