Open letter says the arrests mean diplomats are more cautious about work in China

More than 140 former diplomats and leading China experts have called on Xi Jinping to release two Canadian citizens detained last month as a diplomatic stand-off between Ottawa and Beijing escalates.

In an open letter to the Chinese president, former envoys to China from Canada, the UK, the US, Australia, Germany, Sweden and Mexico described how the arrests of Michael Kovrig, a Canadian diplomat on leave, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, have sent a chill through the diplomatic community.

“We who share Kovrig and Spavor’s enthusiasm for building genuine, productive, and lasting relationships must now be more cautious about travelling and working in China and engaging our Chinese counterparts,” the statement 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.”

Kovrig and Spavor were detained on 10 December, in a move widely seen as retaliation following the arrest by Canadian authorities on 1 December of a senior Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou, for extradition to the US where she faces accusations of fraud and violations of sanctions on Iran.

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The detention of the two Canadians on unspecified allegations of endangering national security has caused heightened concerns for foreigners about their safety. Like Kovrig, many ex-diplomats go into academia, consulting or business related to the country of their former posting.

“It has people looking over their shoulders, because in China there is always a real ambiguity in terms of what the government will and will not tolerate,” said David Mulroney, Canada’s ambassador to China from 2009 to 2012.

Jorge Guajardo, Mexico’s ambassador to China from 2007 to 2013, said he consistently received questions about the safety of visiting China. “There have been ongoing queries. ‘Should I go, should I not go?’ People living there are saying: ‘Should I leave now?’ It’s an issue of concern,” he said.

Some worry a new normal is emerging in which China will behave more aggressively toward current and former diplomats. Those who try to meet prisoners of conscience, travel to sensitive areas such as Xinjiang or Tibet or attend the trials of dissidents often encounter obstacles set up by Chinese authorities.

Their diplomatic immunity means they have been able to push back against government restrictions but they may begin censuring themselves if they fear their work could jeopardise them.

“In the past, diplomats could push that envelope more than most,” said Mulroney. “What might happen is diplomats themselves might think twice. Countries may say: ‘Let’s not rock the boat because we don’t want an incident involving you.’ What that does is it really cuts off an important source of information,” he said.

Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has said China is “not respecting the principles of diplomatic immunity” in connection with Kovrig. Under the Vienna convention, immunity extends to the work done while serving on a mission even afterdiplomatic status has ended.

Canada claims that Kovrig’s interrogations have focused on his work as a diplomat, but China’s foreign ministry denies Kovrig should be granted immunity.

Canada’s ambassador to China, John McCallum, told parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Friday that Spavor and Kovrig continued to endure abuse at the hands of Chinese officials, according to the Globe and Mail.

They are subjected to daily interrogations that last up to four hours and face sleep deprivation techniques, including having lights left on 24 hours a day. They are only allowed one consular visit per month and are forbidden from speaking French to prevent the passing of secret messages, according to the Globe.

Last week, Robert Schellenberg, another Canadian, was sentenced to death for drug smuggling after a sudden retrial.

A Canadian woman, Ti-Anna Wang, the daughter of a Chinese democracy activist who has been imprisoned for life, was barred from entering China last week when she attempted to visit her father. She was later detained at Beijing airport when she tried to transit through China to return home and was forced to leave the country.

“My guess is this is the new status quo. China is crossing a line deliberately and they are now on the other side of the line,” said Guajardo.

In the latest contribution to the debate in Canada, a former spy chief said the country should ban Huawei from supplying equipment to Canadian 5G networks because the security risk is too great.

Richard Fadden, who served as the head of the security intelligence service spy from 2009 to 2013, cited what he said was mounting evidence for blocking Huawei. “Canada’s government should ignore the threats and ban Huawei from Canada’s 5G networks to protect the security of Canadians,” he wrote in the Globe and Mail.