McCallum says he tried to improve conditions for Korvig, Spavor in Chinese prison

OTTAWA — One of Canada’s most controversial ex-ambassadors to China says he repeatedly tried to improve the living conditions of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor after their imprisonment in the People’s Republic almost two years ago.

John McCallum also said Tuesday he regrets speaking about the October 2019 Canadian election in a meeting with Chinese officials in the months leading up to it.

McCallum, the former Liberal cabinet minister who was fired as Canada’s envoy to China in January 2019, was testifying at the special House of Commons committee on Canada-China relations.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fired McCallum after he made a series of public comments that broke with the government’s line following the arrests of Kovrig and Spavor, nine days after Canada’s arrest of Chinese high-tech scion Meng Wanzhou in December 2018 on a U.S. extradition warrant.

McCallum said that’s when everything changed in Canada’s relations with China, and that he has no doubt Kovrig and Spavor would be free right now had Meng not been arrested.

“From that moment onwards, the top priority of the government and of myself as ambassador was to secure the release of the two Michaels,” said McCallum, noting that he has been one of the few people to visit them in prison.

“On more than one occasion, I tried to convince the Chinese that if they were unable to release Kovrig and Spavor they should at least improve their living conditions. Sadly, as you all know, Canadian efforts in this area have so far been unsuccessful.”

The committee has been examining Canada’s relations with China, which have plummeted to an all-time low since December 2018. That will likely include making recommendations about dealing with Chinese security agents who intimidate Canadians of Chinese descent on Canadian soil.

McCallum appeared relaxed over a video link and displayed no ill will to the government that ended his decades-long career as a politician and then a high-level political appointee. MPs from all parties gave McCallum warm respectful greetings, with the Conservative MP Michael Chong telling him he liked an old book he had written.

Trudeau appointed his former immigration minister – McCallum was the political architect of the campaign to bring tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to Canada in 2016 – to Beijing as a gesture of how he valued Canada’s relations with China.

“I think I’ve done some useful things in my career,” he said, citing the Syrian refugee effort, serving as Jean Chretien’s defence minister when “we said no” to the United States’ request to enter the Iraq war in 2003 and helping bestow honorary Canadian citizenship on South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. 

“But I’ve never claimed to have led an error-free career.”

McCallum said he had regrets about his part of his meeting with Chinese officials in the summer of 2019, after he lost his ambassadorship. He said he used the opportunity to lobby for the release of Kovrig and Spavor, or at least improve their living conditions.

“I painted a dark picture of plummeting support for China among Canadians. And I also mentioned as part of this darkness an impending election. Now, in hindsight, I regret having spoken of the election. I don’t think it was appropriate,” McCallum recalled.

It likely didn’t make any difference, he said, “because at the end of the day, the Chinese refused to release or even improve the living conditions of our two detainees.”

In July 2019, McCallum told the South China Morning Post that he had warned China’s foreign ministry that more harmful actions against Canada would only help what he said was the less-China-friendly Conservative party get elected.

Conservative MPs wrote to Canadian Security Intelligence Service director David Vigneault, calling the comments “very disturbing.” Then foreign affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said they were “highly inappropriate.” 

McCallum also said that as ambassador, he rejected an unspecified number of Chinese visa applications on the advice of Canadian security agencies but noted at the time that Australia had a bigger problem with Chinese meddling than Canada. That has changed, he said.

“What happens to Australia today is a guide for what might happen to Canada down the road.” 

Earlier Tuesday, Chong urged Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne to adopt a more consistent approach to getting tough with China.

The Conservative foreign affairs critic told Champagne in a separate Commons committee meeting that the government needs to show Canadians how it will deal with growing Chinese intimidation of Canadians within Canada.

Champagne replied that Canada has taken a smart and firm approach with China lately that includes speaking out against its ill treatment of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and of ethnic Muslim Uighurs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 24, 2020.

Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press