China urged to release Canadian Michael Kovrig at UN Security Council meeting

President of International Crisis Group Robert Malley appeals to Beijing to let Kovrig ‘be reunited with his loved ones and continue his work towards a more peaceful world’

German ambassador Christoph Heusgen echoes appeal made at high-level UN Security Council meeting attended by China’s foreign minister

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Canadian Michael Kovrig, an adviser with the International Crisis Group, has been detained in China for almost two years. Photo: AP

Published: 2:49pm, 21 Oct 2020Updated: 3:59pm, 21 Oct 2020

The president of the International Crisis Group used a high-level UN Security Council meeting attended by China’s foreign minister on Tuesday to appeal for the release of the think tank’s northeast Asia expert, Michael Kovrig, who has been held by Beijing for nearly two years as part of a diplomatic dispute with Canada.

Robert Malley told the council at the end of his briefing on security in the Persian Gulf that the Crisis Group strove to be “an impartial conflict resolution organisation” and its staff tried to understand the perspectives of all parties.

“That’s what our colleague Michael Kovrig was doing in his work on China’s foreign policy,” he said.

Malley said it was not the time or place to discuss Kovrig’s case, “but I cannot conclude without appealing to the Chinese authorities, if they are listening, to understand the mission he was pursuing, end his almost two-year detention, allow him at long last to be reunited with his loved ones and continue his work towards a more peaceful world”.

The participants at the virtual council meeting were shown on the screen, and when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi heard China mentioned he looked up and paid attention. But he made no mention of Kovrig in his speech to the council.

German Ambassador Christoph Heusgen did, echoing Malley’s appeal “to liberate Michael Kovrig”.

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