‘Eyes wide open’: 2 Michaels are home — but Canada still weary of China, Garneau says
Global News
Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau told Global News the arbitrary detention of the 'Two Michaels' had ground Canada’s relationship with China to a halt.
After almost three years of arbitrary detainment, Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are finally home. Now, Canada’s foreign affairs minister says the federal government’s “eyes are wide open” when it comes to China.
The two Michaels were detained in December of 2018, in what is widely considered to be retaliation over the arrest of Chinese telecom giant Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou at a Vancouver airport on fraud charges at the behest of the United States government.
Meng has been accused of committing fraud in order to circumvent U.S. sanctions against Iran. On Friday, a B.C. Supreme Court judge withdrew the U.S. extradition charge against her, allowing her to return home to China.
“It’s an eyes-wide-open policy with respect to (the Chinese government),” Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau told Mercedes Stephenson during an episode of Global News’ The West Block. He added that the arbitrary detention of the “Two Michaels” had ground Canada’s relationship with China to a halt.
However, the country’s relationship with China is continually evolving, said Garneau, and the two will still “co-exist.”
“We will compete. We will cooperate in areas where we need to cooperate, such as climate change, and we will challenge China, whether it’s on human rights or whether it’s on arbitrary detention, when appropriate,” he said.
The Michaels were released after 1,019 days in detention on Friday evening, and landed safely back in Calgary on Saturday morning, accompanied by Canada’s ambassador to China Dominic Barton. Garneau said the two men were released just hours after both governments arrived at a deferred prosecution agreement during judicial proceedings.
“It was certainly a very emotional moment,” Garneau said, noting the “outpouring of joy across the country” upon news they had returned.