143 former China diplomats and academics write to Xi Jinping demanding Canadian detainees be freed
- Open letter to Chinese president warns of less dialogue and greater distrust
- ‘Both China and the rest of the world will be worse off as a result’
A group of 143 scholars and former diplomats have signed an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping demanding the release of two Canadian citizens amid an intensifying diplomatic spat between Beijing and Ottawa.
The open letter, signed by 116 scholars and 27 former diplomats from a total of 19 countries, called for the release of former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, who have been detained for six weeks since December 10.
Both men were accused of “activities that endanger China’s national security”, in what has been widely seen as politically motivated retaliation for the arrest of Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Sabrina Meng Wanzhou.
The signatories of the letter, who said they were “deeply concerned” about the detention of the two Canadians, include former ambassadors to China from Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia, Germany, Sweden, and Mexico, two former US deputy assistant secretaries of state, and former foreign ministers from Britain and Australia.
The letter said Kovrig, a former diplomat in Beijing and the senior adviser for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group, “regularly and openly met with Chinese officials, researchers, and scholars to better understand China’s positions on a range of important international issues”.