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Alex Lo

Former diplomat Michael Kovrig cuts a sympathetic figure and he has always been a good soldier for the Canadian government. He still is, even though he is now out of it.
Quite remarkably, in his first public interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), he even thanked Ottawa and Washington for their efforts in getting him out of China after being detained for 1,000 days, of which six months were spent in solitary confinement. Now that’s magnanimity.
However, Kovrig said lingering suspicions that he was a spy still hurt him, an accusation made by Beijing, which he and Ottawa have all along denied. The CBC raised this question at the outset, realising its importance, but did not press on after what was effectively a one-word denial from Kovrig.
The interviewer asked by way of a comment: “What started happening is that a lot of people started saying, well, I guess that Michael Kovrig was a spy.”
Kovrig responded: “That really hurts. It hurts for a range of reasons. First of all, it’s not true.”
Unfortunately, the CBC did not press on, aiming, no doubt, for a more personal profile and a soft interview.
Despite denials by Beijing, it seemed clear that Kovrig and fellow Canadian Michael Spavor were detained in response to the arrest by Canadian authorities of Huawei Technologies’ top executive and its founder’s daughter Meng Wanzhou, at the extradition request of the United States. But it was actually the Canadian press, chief of which The Globe and Mail, that showed the Chinese charges of spying against both men were not entirely groundless.
We may never know if Kovrig was or wasn’t a card-carrying spook. After all, the line between diplomat and spy is often murky. But what came to be known subsequently was that Kovrig was engaged in what looked a lot like intelligence gathering from his contacts with Spavor.
There are three issues, or questions: does information gathering by a diplomat from a source amount to an intelligence-gathering operation – and who’s to judge?
Why did the Chinese bother to catch two non-spies and then claim they were spies when there were surely Canadian spies available for the catching and whose arrests would dispense with the need for a fake cover story?
If the Chinese were only interested in holding hostages in exchange for Meng’s release, why bother with the two Michaels when, at the time of their arrests, about 200 Canadians were either jailed or detained in China, some of whom could surely have been used for the purpose?
After their release, Spavor spilled some beans and threatened to spill more with a lawsuit against the Canadian government for C$10 million (HK$58 million) for gross negligence.
According to The Globe and Mail, the Canadian government has a confidential reporting channel that officials may use to share information or intelligence they have collected. The contents of that channel are open to the intelligence services of the so-called Five Eyes alliance of English-speaking nations.
Kovrig is believed to have fed information he gleaned from Spavor into the channel. Spavor thought that was gross negligence because he thought their contacts were merely friendly and innocent. Spavor has kept quiet lately, presumably because a settlement has been reached.
So who was Spavor? Again, we may never know the full story. At the time, he ran a company that promoted investment and tourism in North Korea. But this was how the BBC once described him: “Few people can claim to have sipped cocktails on board North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s private yacht, but Michael Spavor is one of them.”
It said Spavor had jet-skied with Kim near the port city of Wonsan. That surely made Spavor a potential source of information for Western intelligence officers – or diplomats, as the case may be.
But spy or no spy, Kovrig has carried himself with grace and toughness. He made his country proud. The same, however, cannot be said about his country.


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China-Canada relations

Former diplomat Michael Kovrig reacts following his arrival on a Canadian air force jet after his release from detention in China, at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, September 25, 2021. Photo: Reuters

Canada reaches settlement with Michael Spavor, 1 of ‘Two Michaels’ in China spy row

Michael Spavor in 2017. File photo: AP


Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig at the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa in March, 2023. File photo: AP

Canadian detained by China for spying says he experienced ‘psychological torture’

Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig in 2021. File photo: Reuters

Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in 2023. File photo: Reuters

Opinion

World Opinion

Spook or not, the former diplomat detained in China over Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou has shown grace and toughness that should instil pride


Spook or not, the former diplomat detained in China over Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou has shown grace and toughness that should instil pride.


My Take

Canada

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

My Take | Beijing’s spying charges against Kovrig were not without basis

Spook or not, the former diplomat detained in China over Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou has shown grace and toughness that should instil pride