OTTAWA—The Canadian government has not warned Canadians against travelling to or within China, even as a second Canadian citizen appears to be in trouble in that country.

A Canadian man, later identified by Global Affairs as Michael Spavor, contacted Canadian officials in Beijing to flag his concern over being questioned by Chinese authorities, but Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada has since lost contact with that man.

The latest development fuels an international furor that has erupted over Canada’s arrest of a high-profile Chinese executive, Meng Wanzhou, at the behest of the Americans — an extradition request that Freeland warned should not be politicized by the U.S. — and has grown since China’s apparent tit-for-tat detention this week of a former Canadian diplomat in Beijing.

In response to a reporter’s question Wednesday, Freeland acknowledged the Canadian government has been trying to reconnect with a second Canadian man whom she did not identify at the time.

The government later confirmed the missing individual is Michael Spavor, a Canadian whose company brings tourists and hockey players into North Korea, and who helped arrange a visit there by former NBA player Dennis Rodman. During that trip, Spavor met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“We are aware that a Canadian citizen, Mr. Michael Spavor, is presently missing in China,” said Global Affairs spokesperson Guillaume Bérubé.

“We are aware of a Canadian who got in touch with us because he was being asked questions by Chinese authorities,” Freeland said. “We have not been able to make contact with him since he let us know about this. We are working very hard to ascertain his whereabouts.”

Freeland offered no further details at first, saying only that it is a “personal situation” and “perhaps delicate,” and she wanted to respect the individual’s and his family’s privacy, adding she had been in touch with the Canadian’s family.

David Mulroney, a former ambassador to China, said Canada needs more facts but added: “If indeed a second Canadian has been detained by the Chinese, we need to clearly advise Canadians of the increased risks associated with being in China.

“We need to call in the Chinese ambassador to deliver the very clear message that this is unacceptable and that all normal engagement with China will be put on hold unless and until this situation is rectified; and we need to drum up real support from like-minded allies, starting with the U.S. This will require blunt talk by the (prime minister) with President Trump, who, up to this point, has been entirely unhelpful.”

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The U.S. effort to extradite Meng in connection with an alleged fraud to do an end-run around sanctions against doing business with Iran took on a dramatically politicized overtone after U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would consider intervening in the move to have the Huawei executive extradited from Canada — a request his government initiated months ago — if it would help advance U.S. trade talks with China.

Freeland fired a shot at Trump over those remarks though she did not mention him by name, saying it was up to Meng’s lawyers now to decide whether they were pertinent in defending her against the extradition request.

“I think that it is incumbent on parties making an extradition request to be sure that an extradition request is about ensuring that justice is done, is about respecting the rule of law, and our extradition partners should not seek to politicize the extradition process or use it for ends other than the pursuit of justice and the rule of law,” said Freeland.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had earlier brushed off Trump’s extraordinary boast.

“Regardless of what goes on in other countries, Canada is and will always remain a country with the rule of law,” Trudeau told reporters Wednesday, as alarm grew over Kovrig’s arrest.

China officially notified Canada of Kovrig’s detention by a fax sent to the Canadian Embassy in Beijing in the early hours of Wednesday morning, eastern time. That would have been evening Wednesday in Beijing, two days after Kovrig was arrested Monday night. Canadian officials noted that Ottawa notified China of Meng’s arrest the day it happened, and granted consular access that same day as well.

However, the Chinese authorities have not said why Kovrig was arrested, what charges he faces, and have given no direct indication to Canada that the arrest was in retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Meng, Freeland said.

“We are very personally concerned about Mr. Kovrig and we have expressed that concern to Chinese authorities,” said Freeland, who did not describe the response of the Chinese ambassador in Ottawa to her concerns.

The Chinese Embassy has not returned the Star’s requests for comment.

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Kovrig was on special leave to work with a non-governmental organization in Hong Kong, does not have diplomatic status, yet is considered to still be an employee of the department. “It adds another layer to the concern,” admitted Freeland. She said the government has a special duty of care to its own employees, but it is “agonizing” when any Canadian is detained outside Canada.

Canadian officials who briefed reporters said Meng’s arrest provoked such a storm of “anti-Canadian sentiment” and protest on official Chinese state media, on social media channels and in emails to the Canadian embassy that Canada asked Beijing to beef up security around its embassy in the capital, and its consulate offices in Hong Kong, Chongqing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Still, the Canadian government has not raised the level of warning to Canadian travellers from a generalized caution. “The current advice urges Canadians to exercise a high degree of caution in China and that is advice that Canadians should take seriously,” said Freeland.

Freeland and her officials said the government constantly reviews events and would adjust the caution if necessary.

Canada’s arrest of Meng on Dec. 1 triggered outrage in Beijing which demanded her immediate release and threatened Canada with “grave consequences.” China hauled in the Canadian ambassador to Beijing, John McCallum, on Saturday and the U.S. ambassador Terry Branstad on Sunday to protest the U.S. extradition request, calling her arrest “lawless, reasonless and ruthless, and it is extremely vicious.”

On his way into a national caucus meeting, Trudeau said Kovrig’s detention “is obviously an issue we’re taking very seriously and is ongoing.”

Lu Kang, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said on Wednesday the International Crisis Group, where Kovrig works as a Hong Kong-based analyst, is not registered in China and its activities in the country are illegal, and repeated Beijing’s demand: “Our request is very clear, that is, the Canadian side should immediately release the detained Ms. Meng Wanzhou and to protect her legitimate rights and interests.”

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Meng was released on strict bail conditions Tuesday while she awaits a formal extradition hearing in Canadian courts in the months ahead.

The U.S. has two months to present its case to Canadian prosecutors who then have another month to decide whether it should bring the U.S. case to an extradition hearing before a B.C. Superior Court judge.

Freeland confirmed Kovrig’s detention came at the hands of the Beijing Bureau of State Security, while the Chinese news agency Beijing News reported he was arrested for violating national security, a much more serious charge than working for an illegally registered group.

But Kovrig’s employer, the International Crisis Group, denied he was engaged in anything other than above-board research and reporting, and moved decisively to put distance between Kovrig and his past work as a Canadian diplomatic employee.

It said Kovrig “has been a full-time and highly respected expert for Crisis Group since February 2017. Though a former Canadian diplomat, he no longer works for the Canadian government and is employed solely by Crisis Group.”

ICG says it is “concerned for his health and safety.”

In an email to the Star, ICG spokesperson Karim Lebhour said China’s allegation that the organization was in violation of registration laws “is the first time we hear such an accusation from the Chinese authorities in a decade of working with China.”

He said ICG originally opened its office in China in 2007 after consultations with the Foreign Ministry.

“We closed our Beijing operations in December 2016 because of the new Chinese NGO law and have been trying to formalize our status since then. Michael Kovrig has been working from Hong Kong, which is not subject to the same law,” Lebhour wrote.

“Michael regularly visits Beijing to meet officials, attend conferences at the invitation of Chinese organizations, and on personal visits. He frequently appears on Chinese television and other media to comment on regional issues.”

ICG describes itself as “an independent organization that conducts field research and offers policy recommendations to help end deadly conflicts worldwide.”

It noted that its board of trustees included prominent figures from the highest levels of government, business and philanthropic institutions from more than 30 countries, two of whom are Chinese: Hu Shuli, founder and publisher of Caixin Media, and Wang Jisi, president of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at Peking University.

In a written statement Wednesday, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said it would be inappropriate for her to comment on the Meng case since the decision whether to surrender Meng to the U.S. would “ultimately” fall to her if the B.C. Superior Court finds the extradition request is in order.

Justice officials said Canada and the U.S. have agreed to U.S. requests more than 90 per cent of the time.

Yet if the requesting state — in this case the U.S. — drops its request, the case is over, and Meng would go free.

Although Canada has been repeating over and over the Meng case is now locked into an independent legal and judicial process with no political interference, experts say it has inevitable political ramifications.

The justice minister has broad discretion to accept or refuse the U.S. extradition request, and must disclose to Meng’s defence team whatever consultations she undertakes, including with cabinet colleagues.

Prof. Rob Currie with the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University said extradition is a “weird mixture of law and politics because the justice minister can take Canada’s foreign relations into account.”

“It is a decision that is based on a legal framework, but it’s a decision that is allowed and expected to take into account Canada’s international commitments, international comity (good relations), our relations with other states and the frameworks of cooperation we operate under in terms of fighting transnational crime,” he said. But the law allows Canada to turn down any request if it is seen as a bid to prosecute a “political offence.”

“The minister may, if she wishes, refuse to extradite if she feels that the prosecution in the requesting state is politicized or if it’s a political crime like treason or espionage,” he said in an interview. “It would be unheard of for the minister to say a prosecution on the part of our good friends the Americans was politicized and refuse extradition on that basis. That would be like punching Trump himself in the nose.”

Wilson-Raybould’s surrender decision could also be appealed to the B.C. Court of Appeal and ultimately to the Supreme Court of Canada, meaning this international controversy is far from over.

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