Ruminations: The Diplomacy of Supreme Vindictiveness

"Detainees are forced to spend the whole day sitting or squatting on the floor, which causes joint and muscle deterioration."
"At night, they sleep on a hard, rough wooden floor without enough bedcovers to keep warm."
"The toilet is a hole in the floor in the corner of the cell."
"No hot water is provided, and prisoners must wash in cold water from a crude tap."
Former British journalist Peter Humphreys, The Diplomat

"There were fourteen people in my cell. And the cell was not very big."
"So basically the beds were all together and there was a small aisle down the middle and a washroom in the corner."
"...There was absolutely no privacy."
Kevin Garratt, Canadian national, formerly imprisoned in China

Michael Kovrig, left, and Michael Spavor were seized by Chinese authorities after the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver International Airport just over two years ago./The Associated Press

When in December of 2018 Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested through a U.S.Justice Department international warrant in an extradition treaty between Canada and the United States on charges of misleading an U.S. bank leading it to unknowingly break U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, two Canadians who happened to be in China were arrested in retaliation immediately afterward, on eventual charges of espionage; spying against China's security interests.

Hearings are still ongoing in Vancouver over the Huawei executive's extradition, where Ms.Meng is out on bail living in one of her two mansions in the city. The two Canadian men, one a diplomat with Canada's foreign service temporarily on leave before his arrest, but in China working for an NGO, Crisis Group, the other a businessman-entrepreneur who arranges for tour trips to North Korea, have since languished in Chinese prisons awaiting eventual release.

Michael Kovrig in an image taken from his Facebook page.

Beijing has no intention, however, of releasing the men until and unless Ms.Meng is permitted to return to China, claiming that she has been illegally detained, in contrast to the two Canadians whose imprisonment was just and with cause. Their summary arrest on allegations clearly trumped up, is not the sole occasion where Canadians in China have been punished; several others were re-sentenced for drug offences after Ms.Meng's detainment -- to death sentences and execution.

In this file photo taken on January 13, 2014 Michael Spavor and former U.S. basketball player Dennis Rodman arrive at Beijing International Airport from North Korea. Prior to his detention, Spavor worked to arrange Western visits to North Korea. Photo by Wang Zhao/Getty Images/AFP

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been imprisoned by Chinese authorities for over two years. They are being held in barbaric conditions; neither has seen sunlight or been exposed to the open air during that time. Both were interrogated endlessly in an obvious intention to break their spirits. They cannot admit to having indulged in any nefarious plots because the charges were plucked out of thin air.

Michael Kovrig is being held in Beijing, while Michael Spavor is imprisoned at Dandong Detention Centre in Dandong, a Chinese city across the Yalu River from North Korea; understandable, since this is the area where Mr. Spavor stationed himself and where his business would have been conducted from. Both were denied Canadian consular service and legal advice. The letters they are permitted to write to their families are heavily censored.

The cells in which both men spend their endless days are approximately three metres by three metres, shared with other prisoners. No furniture is in the cells, their sleeping arrangements comprised of thin mats rolled up during the day. Rudimentary toilet facilities shared among cellmates speak to the hygienic conditions. There are no exercise yards, no dining halls; no one is permitted to leave their cells for any reason.

Meals consist of boiled rice and vegetables served in dog bowls pushed under the doors. Michael Kovrig, the former diplomat who had previously been posted to China, is fluent in Mandarin and thus is able to speak with other detainees who share his cell. Michael Spavor's specialty language is Korean. Both men have been exposed to 24-hour-daily lights in their cells.

The Dandong Detention Centre has been reported to have bright red Chinese characters painted large on its looming grey walls with the legend ordering prisoners to "listen to the Party's orders".