Michael Kovrig

For Beijing, “money is a diplomatic tool: once investments materialize, as Canadian projects, provinces and unions feed on Chinese funding, expect growing domestic resistance to any future re-hardening of Canada’s China policy.” 1/3

Nice to see that quote from my newsletter, Strategic Narratives, in the @theglobeandmail.com's coverage of Canada’s Investment Summit. Link to the full Substack article below. 2/3 www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

China's secret police have detained you. You are hooded or blindfolded, handcuffed, abducted to a secret location, locked in a padded cell, and threatened with severe punishment for "harming China". My cover story in @thewirechina.bsky.social: www.thewirechina.com/2026/10/25/t... 1/7

Support them and help advocate for current wrongful detainees including American scholars Youlin Chen and Min Zin, and Czech national Aleš K. 6/7

China's secret police have detained you. You are hooded or blindfolded, handcuffed, abducted to a secret location, locked in a padded cell, and threatened with severe punishment for "harming China". My cover story in @thewirechina.bsky.social: www.thewirechina.com/2026/10/25/t... 1/7

Solitary confinement, stress and duress, sleep deprivation and worse soften you up for hundreds of hours of interrogation. The only escape from this doom loop is confession. 4/7

China's secret police have detained you. You are hooded or blindfolded, handcuffed, abducted to a secret location, locked in a padded cell, and threatened with severe punishment for "harming China". My cover story in @thewirechina.bsky.social: www.thewirechina.com/2026/10/25/t... 1/7

The Party-state calls it "Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location" (RSDL): bureaucratic blather that masks pre-arrest detention in a secret facility where your only right is to obey. 2/7

Chief Allan Adam’s contribution to Reclaiming Canadian Sovereignty in a Ruptured World, edited by Bob Rae, explains why Alberta separatism cannot be considered without Treaty 8, the 1899 agreement protecting the rights of the Dené people and other First Nations across their traditional lands. 1/5

Bob will be in Ottawa for the Holtom Lecture on November 3, then in Kingston on November 19 to speak at Queen’s University and the Kingston WritersFest. 4/5

Chief Allan Adam’s contribution to Reclaiming Canadian Sovereignty in a Ruptured World, edited by Bob Rae, explains why Alberta separatism cannot be considered without Treaty 8, the 1899 agreement protecting the rights of the Dené people and other First Nations across their traditional lands. 1/5

An international border would divide traditional territory, restrict treaty-protected movement and unilaterally alter a relationship that predates Alberta itself. 2/5

Iranian money. Dubai middlemen. Chinese state-owned companies. New York banks. 1/4

Three Iranian witnesses feared retaliation. Prosecutors warned Beijing might retaliate, too. 3/4

Iranian money. Dubai middlemen. Chinese state-owned companies. New York banks. 1/4

China hides its shameful black jails behind the bureaucratic label “residential surveillance in a designated location.” @safeguarddefenders.bsky.social documents what it means: secret detention, solitary confinement, coercive interrogation, torture, and no lawyer, outside contact or appeal. 1/2

Hikvision operated in Canada for nearly a decade without the security review the law requires. Ottawa only banned it in 2025. We shouldn’t allow Chinese surveillance equipment in Canada, particularly in government offices. — my comments in Christopher Nardi’s @nationalpost.bsky.social story, links👇🏻

Cash rewards for competitors’ secrets. A clandestine handoff. A call to the FBI. 1/3

A former Huawei employee tells a federal jury in Brooklyn why a 2013 memo from Huawei HQ was alarming. Huawei says its U.S. managers rejected it. 2/3

China’s $1.2 trillion trade surplus has revived fears of a second “China shock,” but Ryan Avent argues in @financialtimes.com that the diagnosis is more straightforward than the remedy. 1/3

A stronger yuan and more Chinese consumption could reduce the imbalance, yet forcing a rapid adjustment could also raise prices and strain global supply at an awkward moment, while part of the problem lies in America’s own borrowing and economic choices. 2/3

A U.S. courtroom closed to the public. Three secret government witnesses. Allegations of sanctions evasion, fraud and stolen technology. 1/2

What passes for journalism inside CGTN? Armed guards, scripted questions, political censors and a newsroom where “three quarters of the rundown is all Xi Jinping news,” former employees told @safeguarddefenders.bsky.social. 1/2

Eight years after Meng Wanzhou’s arrest triggered a diplomatic crisis and the abduction of the Two Michaels, Huawei is finally on trial in Brooklyn. 1/3

Our courtroom dispatch covers sanctions, stolen technology and the U.S.-China rivalry. 2/3

For the five-year anniversary of my return from Hell, here’s a cover version of “Gift That Shines” that Tobias Forsner put together with me on backing vocals. 1/3

For me, it evokes moments reflecting on what’s been lost and slowly attaining the philosophical mindset of coming to terms with the past, being fully in the present moment and letting go of attachments, while recognizing that without liberty, few other things have value. 2/3

Meng Wanzhou went home and the Two Michaels were freed, but the Huawei case never went away. 1/3

Now the Chinese telecom giant faces a U.S. jury on charges of fraud, racketeering and stealing trade secrets. 2/3

China’s borders are increasingly becoming prison walls. @safeguarddefenders.bsky.social found nearly 189,000 mentions of exit bans in published court judgments in 2025, up from just 89 in 2016. 1/4

safeguarddefenders.com/en/blog/shut... 3/4

China’s borders are increasingly becoming prison walls. @safeguarddefenders.bsky.social found nearly 189,000 mentions of exit bans in published court judgments in 2025, up from just 89 in 2016. 1/4

What makes a company genuinely Canadian? In Reclaiming Canadian Sovereignty in a Ruptured World, @vassb.bsky.social argues that a Canadian address, workforce, or maple leaf in the branding is not enough. 1/3

Governments should consider where ownership, strategic control, intellectual property, data and profits reside when awarding public contracts or industrial support. Otherwise, policies intended to build Canadian capacity may simply subsidize foreign-controlled firms. 2/3