In a revealing interview with the National Post, former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig shared harrowing details of his 1,019-day detention in China and issued stark warnings about the growing threat posed by the Communist Party's quest for global dominance.
The Hostage Experience
Michael Kovrig, a senior advisor at the International Crisis Group, described being abducted by Chinese state security officers in 2018 while returning from dinner. "They held me hostage for 1,019 days," he revealed to interviewer Jesse Kline during the "NP Talks" episode. His ordeal included nearly six months of solitary confinement with relentless interrogation, followed by two years confined to a single cell in a detention center.
"It was a gruelling ordeal, not just for me, but for my family," Kovrig stated. "Frankly, it's something I've spent the last few years, as has my family, recovering from. An experience like that gives you a lot of trauma and lot of heavy things to carry." His detention, along with fellow Canadian Michael Spavor, came in direct response to Canada's arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition request.
China's True Nature Revealed
Kovrig explained that the experience exposed the fantasy that market liberalization would democratize China. "The days of engagement and dreaming that we could change China by bringing that government into an international system, into a liberal trading order, that fantasy is gone," he asserted.
He expressed particular surprise that China would kidnap a former diplomat, using him as a "chess piece" in geopolitical negotiations. "What that experience did, unfortunately, was really help me appreciate the very limited prospects for changing that regime and the way it thinks, and the urgency and importance of taking robust measures to protect Canada and Canadians."
Economic Warfare and National Security
While acknowledging China's importance as a manufacturing powerhouse, Kovrig warned that everything is geopolitical for Beijing. "For China, everything is geopolitical and everything can be potentially weaponized for leverage," he cautioned.
He highlighted several critical concerns:
- Technology transfer directly strengthens China's military capabilities
- Co-operation on high-tech matters is no longer viable due to technology siphoning
- Monopolizing global manufacturing creates strategic vulnerabilities for Western nations
"If China hollows out the industrial base of all the G7 countries and then there is a conflict over Taiwan, let's say, or the South China Sea, tabletop wargame exercises have already indicated that the U.S. and its allies would run out of ammo and missiles and materials within days or weeks, and it would take years to rebuild," Kovrig explained.
A Path Forward for Canada
Kovrig proposed a strategic approach for Canada in dealing with China. Rather than appearing desperate for trade deals, Canada should first strengthen relations with like-minded democracies.
"It's better to prioritize stronger economic trade and investment and security relations with other countries—with Europe, with the Indo-Pacific countries, with ASEAN, Latin America, Africa," he advised. "Ideally, Canada should focus and prioritize relations with Japan, South Korea, other like-minded democracies, members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, for example, and then come to China with a relatively strong hand."
He compared the approach to dating: "If you go on the dating market and you look desperate and afraid, things are probably not going to go ideally for you. You want to project confidence and have a clear understanding of what you want and what your boundaries are."
Kovrig emphasized that China's ultimate goal is dominance—first in East Asia and the western Pacific, then globally. "It wants to reshape global governance so that it's more amenable to its own authoritarian preferences. Because a liberal international order, in terms of liberal values and liberal economics, is a hostile environment for a Communist authoritarian one-party state."
The solution, according to Kovrig, lies in strengthened alliances and compelling alternatives for developing nations. "We need to double down on alliances with like-minded partners to try to shore up as much of the multilateral liberal order as possible," he urged, calling for more trade cooperation and standard-setting among democratic nations.
"Canada needs to come to those partners with a compelling story backed up by substance of why it's better to partner with Canada on things than with China," he concluded, highlighting the ideological competition unfolding across the developing world.
