QUESTION PERIOD — Foreign Affairs
Canada-China Relations
June 22, 2020
I would like to ask a question of the government leader in the Senate going back to the very serious situation on the detention of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.
These men have been detained in China since December 2018 and today is day 561. I can only imagine what the families must be going through.
I understand Mr. Kovrig’s father is quite ill. They have spent nearly two years away from family. For the first year, they were denied legal counsel and questioned three times a day, and left in rooms with lights on for 24 hours. These Canadians have suffered immeasurably under these terrible conditions. I can’t help but recall a situation when we were in government, under Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s leadership, and there was the detention of a Canadian pastor in North Korea. These conditions being described are just absolutely unimaginable and deplorable.
Today, during the press conference on the steps of Rideau Cottage, the Prime Minister said we deplore China’s decision and that it is totally unacceptable. We absolutely agree. You have given some assurances, but beyond the Prime Minister’s words, leader, what concrete actions will the government pursue in an effort to help the two Canadians who are detained in China?
Again, I thank you for your question. It should be posed regularly because we all care deeply about the fate of our citizens who are being held arbitrarily.
The concrete steps and actions of the government are being taken, but in matters like this — of diplomacy and complicated relationships — one of your colleagues properly noted that this is not the only issue upon which we have great and serious disagreements with China. Our economy is interwoven in increasing ways, as we know, and sectors of our economy are struggling and suffering. It’s complicated, and therefore, much of what needs to be done needs to be done behind closed doors, and it is my understanding that the government is pursuing this relentlessly.
However, we should not minimize the difficulty that we’re facing in relation to our relationships with China, in the context of the larger issues that our allies are struggling with as well with China, and the positions that we have been put in, given the interdependence of the world’s supply chain with China.
