OTTAWA –
A federal unit monitoring foreign intervention has identified what appears to be a coordinated information campaign by Chinese state media to control the internal story surrounding the return of the “two Michael” to Canada.
Canada’s Rapid Reaction Mechanism has found that efforts also appear to be aimed at fostering confusion or doubt in Canada and internationally about what Michael Kovrig and Michael Spaver did in China before being detained in late 2018.
The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to obtain the unit’s analysis of the events of September 2021, the last window into a tense geopolitical drama that has been unfolding between Ottawa and Beijing for nearly three years.
Several parts of the document, considered too sensitive to release, were obscured.
Canada arrested Meng Wangzhou, senior executive of Chinese company Huawei Technologies, in December 2018 at the request of the United States, where she was facing charges related to US sanctions against Iran.
The move apparently angered Beijing, and two Canadians working in China – Kovrig and Spavor – were arrested shortly afterwards on charges of endangering national security, a move widely seen as revenge against Ottawa.
Kovrig and Spavor were convicted of espionage in 2021 in closed Chinese courts. Canada and many allies have said the trial is arbitrary detention on false charges in an irresponsible judiciary.
The United States has drafted an agreement to postpone the prosecution of Mann’s case, which allows her release, and Beijing has allowed the two Michael, as it became known, to fly home on September 25.
Relief from Canadians greeted their return. Typical of the mood was a tweet from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service: “CSIS joins all Canadians to welcome you back to Canada.”
A September 28 analysis by RRM Canada said it had identified a story in Chinese state media alleging that the two Michael had “admitted their guilt”, that they had been “released on bail for medical reasons” and that CSIS had inadvertently revealed as Canadian spies.
The division, based in Global Affairs Canada, produces open data analysis to outline trends, strategies and tactics in foreign intervention. Efforts are supporting the G7 RRM, an initiative to strengthen coordination to identify and respond to threats to leading industrial democracies.
RRM Canada says it first unveiled the story of “The Two Michaels” on Sept. 26, when the Global Times, a state-run media tabloid, published a long English-language article entitled “Two Canadians Plead Guilty, Released on Bail for Medical Reasons before leaving China: source. “
The RRM’s analysis notes that the story says that the two men were “released on bail”, “confessed to their crimes and wrote letters of confession and repentance in their own handwriting” and left China “in accordance with legal procedures”.
“The author adds that China’s suspicions are not unfounded and cites a recent tweet from CSIS that welcomed the two Michaels back to Canada.”
Mann left the court in British Columbia on September 24 after a judge agreed to a discharge order withdrawing a US request for extradition against her.
This followed her virtual appearance in court in New York, where she pleaded not guilty to all charges and a judge signed the deferred prosecution agreement.
At the time, Nicole Böckman, acting prosecutor for New York’s Eastern District, said Meng had taken responsibility for her role in a global financial institution fraud scheme when concluding the deferred prosecution agreement.
Boekman said Meng’s confessions in the statement of facts confirmed that she had made many significant misconceptions to a senior financial institution about Huawei’s business operations in Iran in an attempt to maintain the company’s banking relationship with the institution.
The same day, news accounts on China’s social media platform WeChat reported that Meng would appear in US and Canadian courts and could sign a deferred prosecution agreement that would allow her to return to China, according to an RRM analysis.
“As the full details of the DPA were not clear, Canadian news accounts at WeChat said it would plead guilty to the charges or plead guilty to misrepresenting a global financial institution,” the analysis said. “Chinese state media have not included any of this discussion or information in their official accounts of Meng’s release.
In response, according to the RRM analysis, most of the mentions of what Meng agreed to in the deferred prosecution agreement have been removed.
WeChat users will see an error message from the developer of the Tencent platform, which says that “it cannot see this content because it violates the regulations.”
RRM notes that this type of message only appears when Tencent or the Chinese Cyberspace Administration removes content from news accounts. However, he was unable to determine who downloaded the stories.
The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa did not respond to a request for comment on the RRM Canada report.
The University of Toronto’s civic lab says China has an extensive censorship system that includes restrictions on the Internet, applications and the media. Internet platforms operating in China must follow local laws and regulations on content control, the research lab said.
Feng Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carlton University, suggested that China’s actions regarding online dialogue over last September’s events show a lack of finesse.
“This shows that they are not very complicated and can be quite annoying at the same time,” said Hampson, co-author with Canadian Press reporter Mike Blanchfield of “The Two Michaels: Innocent Canadian Prisoners and High-Bid Spying on US Cyber War.” and China. “
“This is Chinese state censorship on the move.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 21, 2022.
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