‘Nothing he was doing was in any way secret’, detained Canadian Michael Kovrig’s employer Crisis Group says
- Arrest sends ‘troubling message’ for those working to build closer ties between China and the international community, according to International Crisis Group president Robert Malley
- He says Chinese officials ‘appreciated’ Kovrig’s work and that he will push for his immediate release
Chinese officials “appreciated” the work of detained Canadian former diplomat Michael Kovrig, and that work has been “transparent”, according to his employer.
Robert Malley, president of non-profit NGO International Crisis Group, which employed Kovrig, said his arrest sent a “troubling message” for those working to build closer ties between China and the international community, like diplomats or NGO staff.
“Nothing he was doing was in any way secret, and nothing he was doing was endangering national security,” Malley told the South China Morning Post.
Kovrig was a diplomat at Canada’s embassy in Beijing until 2016 before he took a leave of absence to work for the ICG as a senior adviser for Northeast Asia.
He was detained in Beijing on December 10 in a move widely seen as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Sabrina Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States on December 1.
A second Canadian, Michael Spavor, was detained on the same day as Kovrig. Spavor is a businessman based in the Chinese city of Dandong with connections to North Korea.