Quiet diplomacy isn’t working for Kovrig and Spavor

MARCUS KOLGA, GARY CAROLINE, The Star, July 2020

For nearly 600 days, Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been held hostage by China, their fate contingent on that of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei, who is facing extradition to the U.S. and is under house arrest in a luxury mansion in Vancouver.

Caught between the competing interests of China and the United States, the Trudeau government is faced with unappealing choices.

It can allow Meng’s extradition hearing to play out in the courts, knowing that her committal to stand trial in the U.S. could have potentially catastrophic consequences for the two Michaels.

Or it can make a political decision to terminate the judicial process and free Meng, a move that, while lawful, would provoke the wrath of our closest ally and largest trading partner, and cast broad doubts on Canada’s commitment to respecting its treaty commitments.

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