After two years the Chinese government has, finally, allowed consular access to the “Two Michaels,” as international conventions and good diplomatic manners require. A report in the Globe and Mail says that “Dominic Barton, ambassador to China, met over the internet with businessman Michael Spavor on Friday and [Michael] Kovrig, a former diplomat, on Saturday. It was the first contact that Canadian diplomats have had with the two men since in-person visits in mid-January … [and Mr Kovrig’s family said that] … “Michael was greatly relieved to receive news from the outside world … [and] astonished to learn about the details of the COVID-19 pandemic, and remarked that it all sounded like some ‘zombie apocalypse movie.’”“
It appears, I hope, that China may have finally concluded that its “wolf warrior diplomacy” which in the case of Canada includes outright “hostage diplomacy” as it tries to pressure Canada into returning Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, who has been (properly and legally) arrested in response to a US extradition request, is not working.
