Quick Facts
Biography
Michael Kovrig is a Canadian former diplomat who worked for the International Crisis Group, a transnational, pro-peace think tank. After being detained in December 2018, he was accused of espionage by the Chinese government in May 2019, and his arrest is thought by some press outlets to be retaliation for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on December 1, 2018. Kovrig's arrest has become a recent point of contention for Canada-China relations.
History
In his early years, Kovrig attended Royal St. George's College. Kovrig graduated from Columbia University with a master's degree in international affairs and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. and worked for a time after graduation at the United Nations Development Programme in New York City and in Kabul, Afghanistan.
From 2010 to 2016, Kovrig worked for Canada's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was stationed in Hong Kong and Beijing from 2012-2016.
Arrest and Captivity
Kovrig joined the International Crisis Group in February 2017 as a senior advisor to North East Asia. On 10 December 2018, Michael Kovrig was detained in Beijing around the same time as Michael Spavor, a Canadian consultant with a personal relationship with Kim Jong-Un and a history of working with North Korea. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called his arrest "arbitrary."
On 21 January 2019, more than 220 prominent political and academic individuals signed a letter calling on China to release Kovrig and Spavor.
In March 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Kovrig was permitted by his captors to have a telephone conversation with his sick father. On April 23, 2020, the 500th day of Kovrig's captivity, Trudeau said consular services for detained Canadians were not currently available on account of the coronavirus.