On Friday, a Chinese court moved ahead with the trial of a Canadian businessman who has been detained for more than two years on charges of spying, in a case that has sparked global protests and calls for United States intervention.
A court in Dandong, a city in northeastern China, held the trial of Canadian Michael Spavor, who worked to promote cultural trips to North Korea before being detained in late 2018, in apparent retaliation for Canada’s decision to arrest a major Chinese technology executive at the request of the United States.
The court said in a concise statement that Mr. Spavor was tried on charges of spying and “illegally providing state secrets to foreign countries”. He said a verdict would be announced at a later date.
In a sign of China’s efforts to control the process, the authorities have banned the public and the media from attending the trial. A group of 10 diplomats representing eight countries, including Canada and the United States, tried to seek access to the trial in Dandong, a coastal city near China’s border with North Korea, but was refused. The court said the trial, which lasted about two hours, was held in private because it involved state secrets.
“We are deeply concerned about the lack of transparency surrounding these procedures,” said Jim Nickel, a senior official at the Canadian embassy in Beijing who tried to appear at the trial, in a statement.
Another Canadian, Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat who was also arrested in 2018, is due to stand trial in Beijing on Monday.
Since they were arrested, Mr. Spavor and Mr. Kovrig have been at the center of a fierce international dispute between China, Canada and the United States.
China, accusing Western countries of trying to prevent its rise as a technological superpower, is pressuring the United States to end a wide-ranging fraud case against Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese technology giant Huawei. The United States, which seeks Meng’s extradition, has asked China to release Spavor and Kovrig.
“The trials of the two Michaels are a vendetta for Ms. Meng,” he said Guy Saint-Jacques, a veteran Canadian ambassador to China who was Kovrig’s head when he was first secretary of the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. “It’s a message for Canada and the world: ‘Don’t mess with China.’”
The Canadians’ issue was expected to emerge as the top Biden government officials meet with their Chinese colleagues in Anchorage, starting on Thursday. Friends and relatives of Spavor and Kovrig have asked President Biden and Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau to take steps to secure his release.
American officials said on Friday they were “deeply alarmed” by China’s decision to proceed with the Spavor and Kovrig trials. “We are shoulder to shoulder with Canada in calling for its immediate release,” a spokesman for the United States Embassy in Beijing said in a statement.
Any deal with Beijing may be illusory, as China has shown no sign of backing down, instead using the two men’s accusation to project a forceful image and demand that the United States withdraw its request for Meng’s extradition.
“Beijing is making it clear that the two Michaels will be judged with Chinese characteristics: closed to the public and the media,” said Diana Fu, associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto. “His actions leave little doubt about who will be the final decision maker of the Canadians’ fate – the Chinese Communist Party, not Biden, not Trudeau.”
The arrest of the two men sparked calls in Canada for tougher action against China. According to a recent survey by the Angus Reid Institute, one of the leading research companies, only 14% of Canadians have a favorable view of China. Most see the release of the two Canadians by the Chinese government as a prerequisite for restoring relations.
“There is a reaction against China in Canada, and the trial will only harden attitudes,” said Gordon Houlden, director emeritus of the China Institute at the University of Alberta. He added that the case of the two Michaels underlined the limited influence of an average power like Canada when faced with an economic and political giant like China.
Legal experts and human rights activists denounced China’s treatment of Canadians, accusing Chinese officials of resorting to “hostage diplomacy”. The two men, held in separate prisons in northern China, were largely cut off from the world and were sometimes forced to spend months without visits by diplomats. They had limited access to defense lawyers.
“Like so many cases where Chinese officials try to silence a critic or settle accounts, these cases have nothing to do with the law,” said Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch’s director for China.
Self-styled consultant, Mr. Spavor ran an organization in Dandong that promoted cultural trips to North Korea. He established high-level contacts there and once met with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un. In 2013, Spavor helped organize a visit to North Korea by Dennis Rodman, the former NBA star.
“Michael is just an ordinary Canadian businessman,” his family said in a statement before the trial on Friday. “He loved living and working in China and would never have done anything to offend the interests of China or the Chinese people. We support Michael and maintain his innocence in this difficult situation. “
Claire Fu and Albee Zhang contributed research.