China leaves room to release Canadian after spy conviction

Bloomberg

A Chinese court jailed a Canadian tour organiser for 11 years for spying, while leaving room for his eventual deportation — a ruling that appeared timed to pressure Ottawa in extradition proceedings against a top Huawei Technologies Co. executive.
Michael Spavor, who organised tours to North Korea, was sentenced after being found guilty of stealing and illegally providing state secrets to other countries, the Dandong Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement on Wednesday. Spavor will also be deported, the court said, without elaborating whether that would happen before or after his full sentence was completed.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the verdict as “absolutely unacceptable and unjust” while David Meale, the top US diplomat in Beijing, called the proceedings a “blatant attempt to use human beings as bargaining leverage.” In a separate statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Beijing’s sentencing and called for the immediate release of all people “arbitrarily” detained in China.
Diplomats from 25 countries, including Japan, Germany and the UK, gathered at the Canadian Embassy, in a gesture Ambassador Dominic Barton said showed Beijing “that all the eyes of the world are watching.”
The Canadian side interpreted the ruling as implying that Spavor wouldn’t be released until after prison, Barton told reporters via video link from Dandong. While sending Spavor back now could be seen as an olive branch, Beijing hasn’t indicated any desire to compromise on the cases while Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou’s fate hangs in the balance in Vancouver.
The verdict was part of a flurry of court proceedings on both sides of the Pacific this week, as Meng waged a final fight against extradition to the US for trial. Spavor is among a handful of Canadians who have faced stiff punishments in China since Meng’s December 2018 arrest, which the Communist Party views as a politically motivated attack on one of its chief technology champions.
Spavor’s detention along with that of Michael Kovrig — a Hong Kong-based analyst at the International Crisis Group and former Canadian diplomat — has fuelled criticism of the expansion of “hostage diplomacy.” China has repeatedly linked the cases to Meng’s, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman saying last year that halting her extradition “could open up space for resolution to the situation of the two Canadians.” China upheld a death sentence for Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, who had seen his punishment for drug-trafficking increased on appeal in January 2019. Canadian diplomats have said they viewed the timing of the decisions as politically driven.
China demanded Meng’s freedom during contentious talks with American diplomats in Tianjin last month and the Globe and Mail newspaper reported in June that Canada and the US have discussed a deferred prosecution arrangement that could lead to her release. Last week, US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his opposition to the Canadians’ detentions during a call with Trudeau.
Barton declined to give specifics about talks to free the two men. “All I can say is that in terms of the efforts we have underway is that there are intensive efforts and discussions, and that will continue as we have said before,” he said, adding that the timing of Kovrig’s verdict remained unclear.