“No matter how you look at it, Michael Kovrig does not have diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention,”she said.’
Responding to comments from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who over the weekend accused China of violating the diplomatic immunity of former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig (one of two Canadian nationals who were arrested in China on vague “national security” related crimes, seemingly in retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou), China affirmed on Monday that Kovrig, who worked as a diplomat for Canada for years stationed all over Asia, didn’t benefit from diplomatic immunity.
Spokeswoman of China’s Foreign Ministry Hua Chunying
Trudeau said it was “unfortunate” that China had arbitrarily detained Canadian citizens and “indeed in one case is not respecting diplomatic immunity.” It was, according to the South China Morning Post, Trudeau’s first public comment on the detentions.
