On the same day that the leave canadian Diplomat Michael Kovrig from the Beijing office of the Chinese state security was arrested, the state security in the border city of Dandong, 900 kilometres to the East, against other Canadians: the travel entrepreneur Michael Spavor. That was on Monday of this week. Kovrigs to Disappear as first. His employer, the International Crisis Group, confirmed his arrest on Wednesday morning and was concerned about the “health and safety”. On Wednesday evening, the canadian Minister of foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland spoke for the first time, of a second case: “the case of the canadian is known for, with us, because he was questioned by Chinese authorities. Since then, we have not managed to contact him.“ The government has been working hard to figure out where he was.
Friederike Böge
Political correspondent for East Asia.
F. A. Z.
on Thursday, the Chinese confirmed the Ministry of foreign Affairs on request, both men were “under suspicion, to behave in a manner that endangers China’s national security”. Ministry spokesman Lu Kang claimed that the canadian Embassy had been informed in both cases. On Wednesday, however, he had declared that he had no information about the case, Kovrig. At the same time, he implied, his employer, the International Crisis Group was not registered in China, as an organization, so that Kovrigs work in the country could have violated the new NGO-law.
Michael Spavor specializing in group travel to North Korea, exchange programs, and operations in the country. He lived in Dandong, the Chinese border town to North Korea. In Beijing, he reported at times about his meetings with ruler Kim Jong-un, whom he described in a lecture this year as a “friend”. Spavor mediated according to information from the visitors to the Basketball Stars Dennis Rodman with Kim Jong-un.
