Missing Canadians raise stakes in China-US-Canada dispute on WTOP| BEIJING (AP) — The apparent detentions of two Canadian men in China this week have raised the stakes in a three-way international dispute with the United States. The Canadian government said late Wednesday that entrepreneur Michael…
BEIJING (AP) — The apparent detentions of two Canadian men in China this week have raised the stakes in a three-way international dispute with the United States.
The Canadian government confirmed reports late Wednesday that Michael Spavor, a China-based entrepreneur who organizes tours to North Korea, had gone missing. His disappearance follows the detention of former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig in Beijing on Monday.
The two cases ratchet up pressure on Canada, which is holding a Chinese telecommunications executive wanted by the United States. The U. S. is seeking the extradition of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, who was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1.
Canadian officials have not been able to contact Spavor “since he let us know he was being questioned by Chinese authorities,” Canadian Global Affairs spokesman Guillaume Bérubé said. “We are working very hard to ascertain his whereabouts and we continue to raise this with the Chinese government.”
The Chinese government has not commented on Spavor’s disappearance. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday that he had no information on Kovrig’s detention, which was reported by his employer, the International Crisis Group think tank.
Regional newspapers in Beijing and Liaoning province, where Spavor lives, reported separately that the two are under investigation on suspicion of “committing acts endangering the national security of China.” Authorities could not be reached to confirm those reports.
The broadly defined charge encompasses both traditional espionage and other forms of information gathering such as interviewing political dissidents and contacting non-governmental organizations.
Another Canadian, Keven Garratt, spent 750 days in detention in 2014-16 and was given an eight-year prison sentence for espionage before being deported.
