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Former Canadian diplomat detained in China, possibly related to Meng Wanzhou (Huawei) detention in Canada

AcademicSaucer

AcademicSaucer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,662
A former Canadian diplomat has been detained in China, and his current employer, the International Crisis Group, said it was seeking his prompt and safe release.

Michael Kovrig's detention comes after police in Canada arrested the chief financial officer of Huawei on 1 December at the request of USauthorities, a move that infuriated Beijing.

It was not immediately clear if the cases were related, but the arrest of Huawei's CFO, Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver has stoked fears of reprisals against the foreign business community in China.

"International Crisis Group is aware of reports that its north-east Asia senior adviser, Michael Kovrig, has been detained in China," the thinktank said in a statement.

"We are doing everything possible to secure additional information on Michael's whereabouts as well as his prompt and safe release," it added.

China's foreign ministry and ministry of public security did not respond immediately to questions faxed earlier about Kovrig's detention.

The exact reason for the detention was not immediately clear.

The Canadian embassy declined to comment, referring queries to Ottawa.

Calls to Kovrig's phones were not answered.

Kovrig, a Mandarin speaker, has been working as a full-time expert for the International Crisis Group since February 2017.

From 2003 to 2016, he worked as a diplomat with stints in Beijing and Hong Kong, among others, according to his profile on LinkedIn.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/11/michael-kovrig-detained-china-former-canadian-diplomat
 
Squarehard

Squarehard

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Oct 27, 2017
25,830
I'm shocked China would retaliate like this.
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Sqrt

Sqrt

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,880
Any Canadian in China is probably looking to exit the country asap. Or they should.
 
firehawk12

firehawk12

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,161
We'll give in, just like we do to the Saudis and the Russians.

I mean, what's the alternative? Stand up to these despotic countries?
 

TheRagnCajun

Member
Oct 29, 2017
590
China is talking out both sides of their mouth. They insist Huawei is not state controlled yet intervene with drastic measures when the CFO is arrested.
 
Dekuman

Dekuman

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,026
Maybe arrest more Chinese spies. Interesting that one of my mom's acquaintance with a moniker of Ms. Beijing and always seemed shady as a super wealthy food court worker fled the country suddenly going back to China.
 
TheCed

TheCed

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,415
I'm supposed to get Wed to my girlfriend in China this Febuary...
Should I be worried if I'm just a Canadian Tourist ?
 

Deleted member 135

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
11,682
Hopefully with automation manufacturing can be moved back out of China and we can cut short their rise.
 
firehawk12

firehawk12

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Oct 25, 2017
24,161
Heshinsi said:
We gave in to the Saudis? I thought we told them to kick rocks, and that caused them to throw a hissy fit.
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No, we're still selling LAVs to them because billion dollar contracts and jerbs are more important than Saudis murdering a journalist in their own consulate and smuggling his body out in pieces.
 
Apathy

Apathy

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Oct 25, 2017
11,992
Anyone even remotely associated with the Canadian government should have gotten the fuck out of China cause even Stevie Wonder could see this coming from a mile away
 
DrForester

DrForester

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Oct 25, 2017
21,645
Kind of surprised they didn't issue a warning for all Canadians to leave asap. Of course the Chinese Government would do this
 

Jazzman

Member
Oct 25, 2017
161
I fail to understand the outrage from China's POV on us doing the arresting while she was in Canada. It is not as if the Canadian Government charged her themselves, they merely acted on a request from the US government which appears to have credible evidence. We have an extradition treaty with the US, you can't simply pick and chose what happens and who to go after in terms of hurt feelings.

Why the hell was she anywhere near North America in the first place if they had know the US was trying to target Huawei and China in general?
 
Pet

Pet

More helpful than the IRS
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,070
SoCal
ItIsOkBro said:
Well it fucking sucks that Canada is now caught in the middle of this.
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Yeah, I sort of expected something like this to happen.

Apathy said:
Anyone even remotely associated with the Canadian government should have gotten the fuck out of China cause even Stevie Wonder could see this coming from a mile away
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Yep.

*edit: And I don't mean this in a victim blaming sort of way, I mean that unfortunately the reality of the situation is that if your two governments are hostile towards one another and you're important at all... you should leave for your own safety. Reality is that you gotta CYA.

Hopefully he gets released physically and mentally unharmed.
 
FriskyCanuck

FriskyCanuck

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,063
Toronto, Canada
firehawk12 said:
No, we're still selling LAVs to them because billion dollar contracts and jerbs are more important than Saudis murdering a journalist in their own consulate and smuggling his body out in pieces.
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Opinion: Canada can't afford to cancel the Saudi arms deal — and the Trudeau government knows it
One could argue that $1 billion is a relatively small price to pay to cleanse Canada's foreign policy of one particularly odious entanglement. The problem for the government is that the costs — economic and political — go well beyond that.

One of the issues would be the extremely poor timing, which would coincide with the news of the shuttering of the General Motors plant in Oshawa, Ont. The anticipated closure of that facility will leave more than 2,500 people in southern Ontario out of work, and likely affect thousands of others working in feeder facilities.

The cancellation of the Saudi arms deal would deliver another blow the region, and make for a banner year of manufacturing job losses in southern Ontario. That's something this government simply cannot afford in an election year.

Most major policy decisions are about weighing competing interests: jobs or the environment; Indigenous rights or pipeline expansion; a principled foreign policy or 3,000 manufacturing jobs in a province that's already slated to lose thousands more. Politically speaking, it's not a hard decision.

If one death is a tragedy and a million is a statistic, job losses theoretically shouldn't even be on the radar. It is morally unimportant compared to the types of grotesque human rights violations we're talking about with the Saudi regime. But when that job loss is in our own backyard, and the deaths are thousands of miles and a world away — well, our value rankings become skewed. And no doubt the Trudeau government recognizes that.
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Swauny Jones

Swauny Jones

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,863
FreezePeach said:
An Anti-China stance is a pretty good stance to take given the drastic changes they have undertaken in how they handle their society and leadership over the last few years.
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No it isn't. Most of you are threatened at the influence China is having on the world stage and want to use their leadership and societal changes as an excuse for a possible war with them. Considering all of the other things other countries have been doing for years that have been much worse I find it funny that China is targeted by you guys. I wonder if you're willing to go through a huge recession just to unseat China as a top global power. Do you feel it's worth it for you to suffer for the next 5 - 10 years maybe longer for a country that isn't a threat to you? Just another excuse to have a war and make dollars off of weapons sales if you ask me.
 
FreezePeach

FreezePeach

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,811
Swauny Jones said:
No it isn't. Most of you are threatened at the influence China is having on the world stage and want to use their leadership and societal changes as an excuse for a possible war with them. Considering all of the other things other countries have been doing for years that have been much worse I find it funny that China is targeted by you guys. I wonder if you're willing to go through a huge recession just to unseat China as a top global power. Do you feel it's worth it for you to suffer for the next 5 - 10 years maybe longer for a country that isn't a threat to you? Just another excuse to have a war and make dollars off of weapons sales if you ask me.
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Ok, sure. I think you may want to consider re-education camp. It sounds cozy.
 
Swauny Jones

Swauny Jones

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,863
FreezePeach said:
Ok, sure. I think you may want to consider re-education camp. It sounds cozy.
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You prove my point yet again. You wanna play global police yet there are countries much smaller that have done worse and the US has acted like nothing has happened for the sake of money. It doesn't benefit them financially to stop it. But go ahead and bring up whatever you want to bring up because the only reason the US will every do anything to China is for financial gain. Not any human rights issues or any of the other stuff you want to parade around as a free rights activist. You might want to "re-educate" yourself on what's really going on and why it's happening before calling for another country's head. You act like China is a threat to world peace or something LOL!!
 
FreezePeach

FreezePeach

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,811
Swauny Jones said:
You prove my point yet again. You wanna play global police yet there are countries much smaller that have done worse and the US has acted like nothing has happened for the sake of money. It doesn't benefit them financially to stop it. But go ahead and bring up whatever you want to bring up because the only reason the US will every do anything to China is for financial gain. Not any human rights issues or any of the other stuff you want to parade around as a free rights activist. You might want to "re-educate" yourself on what's really going on and why it's happening before calling for another countries head.
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Do you live in China?
 
FreezePeach

FreezePeach

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,811
Swauny Jones said:
Doesn't matter if I have or haven't but to answer your question YES I have lived there and have family there...
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Oh, well that explains it. Sorry to hear that you can't enjoy free speech over there. I know you either really believe this shit or you're mandated to believe it. But since there is really no good faith argument to be had with you I dont find it a good use of my time explaining the very obvious, very dystopian, and very scary policies of the Chinese government.
 

Deleted member 32374

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Swauny Jones said:
Doesn't matter if I have or haven't but to answer your question YES I have lived there and have family there... Life is good for them there and is for me when I'm there as well.
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Covering for an oppressive, regressive, dehumanizing, autocratic government working hard to make 1984 a reality while systematically destroying ethnic minorities defense force in the building Era.
 
Wandermust

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Dec 3, 2018
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firehawk12 said:
No, we're still selling LAVs to them because billion dollar contracts and jerbs are more important than Saudis murdering a journalist in their own consulate and smuggling his body out in pieces.
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I guess, if I was a Canadian citizen, why should I care about the Saudi killing one of their own citizens? They do it every day. If it was a canadian citizen I would care, but since the guy isn't, why should I care above all the other peeps that die each year in SA?
 
Swauny Jones

Swauny Jones

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,863
FreezePeach said:
Oh, well that explains it. Sorry to hear that you can't enjoy free speech over there. I know you either really believe this shit or you're mandated to believe it. But since there is really no good faith argument to be had with you I dont find it a good use of my time explaining the very obvious, very dystopian, and very scary policies of the Chinese government.
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You haven't experienced it to understand it. It's nowhere near as bad as you think it is. And even if it was it's no reason for any country to up and want to try and step on their toes. You're crusading about something you don't even understand and should go back to watching Black Mirror because it's nowhere near as bad as you make it. Anyhow this discussion was fun. Back to work I go...
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

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Oct 25, 2017
14,670
Swauny Jones said:
You haven't experienced it to understand it. It's nowhere near as bad as you think it is. And even if it was it's no reason for any country to up and want to try and step on their toes. You're crusading about something you don't even understand and should go back to watching Black Mirror because it's nowhere near as bad as you make it.
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They literally blast people's names and photos like they're on the FBIs most wanted list because they have a bad credit score. If that's not dystopian I don't know what is.
 
Swauny Jones

Swauny Jones

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jkm23 said:
Covering for an oppressive, regressive, dehumanizing, autocratic government working hard to make 1984 a reality while systematically destroying ethnic minorities defense force in the building Era.
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What if I told you I was black??? It's suppose to not be good for black people in China but for me it's good... Too many of you spew nonsense about things you understand very little of and overreact to the most mundane shit.
 

Deleted member 32374

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 10, 2017
8,460
Swauny Jones said:
You haven't experienced it to understand it. It's nowhere near as bad as you think it is. And even if it was it's no reason for any country to up and want to try and step on their toes. You're crusading about something you don't even understand and should go back to watching Black Mirror because it's nowhere near as bad as you make it. Anyhow this discussion was fun. Back to work I go...
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It most likely better than you don't engage in this threads in the future if you are concerned about speaking out with family in China.
 
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