Today, readers are discussing former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig being detain in China and Time Magazine announcing their Person of the Year is a group of journalists, referring to them as “Guardians.”
Michael Kovrig, Senior Adviser, North East Asia for International Crisis Group.Supplied/Reuters
There you go: tit for tat. We arrest Ms. Meng for political reasons, and the Chinese arrest a Canadian for political reasons. I expect if Ms. Meng makes bail here in Canada, Michael Kovrig will be quickly released and the matter referred to as a "misunderstanding." - Richard Roskell
Canada and the U.S. should have issued a warning for all their citizens to leave China after the Vancouver arrest. - BC Thoughts
Keep your Opinions sharp and informed. Get the Opinion newsletter.
China has made a big mistake by doing this, if it is retaliation for the arrest of Ms. Meng. This will harm their reputation in Canada and will reinforce the notion that China does not respect the rule of law. It is a bad move on their part, especially since we haven't had a lot of negative impressions about China. China should have just let the judicial process in Canada play out instead of threatening "consequences". - THE GLOB
China just digs a deeper hole for themselves. Their support from our Prime Minister will continue to slip away with every action like this. You feel bad for Michael Kovrig, but happy that closer ties with China are fading as they should. - JeffSpooner
Dear China, Thank you for this confirmation that you regard relations between legal jurisdictions as eye-for-an-eye reprisals, as if between rival criminal gangs. I am just sorry for innocent people, like Michael Kovrig, who get caught in the crossfire of your nefarious activities. Seriously, let's do business elsewhere. - Sahd Man
What else readers are discussing today:
Time magazine’s Person of the Year goes to group of journalists
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, left, and Ma Pan Ei Mon and Chit Su Win holding photos of their husbands, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, in this combination image of Time covers.Supplied/Reuters
This is a good choice, as well it would be pertinent to mention the hundreds of journalists who have been killed on the job because they were getting to close to corruption. Trump has not tried killing, but he is trying to get a distrust of journalists so the truth can be suppressed. - McDsmith
A wise choice by Time Magazine. What's left of democracy is under assault from various right wing institutions: corrupt elected governments, dictatorships, the military, religions, and most importantly, international billionaire oligarchs who don't want people to know they don't care about either democracy, sovereignty of nations, or ordinary working people.Truth itself is being hidden and distorted.
Journalists must do their jobs - report the truth - without fear of reprisals. And we here on these newspaper websites must tell the rest of the stories that journalists are uninformed, unable or unwilling to tell. - The Work Force
From the Comments is designed to highlight interesting and thoughtful contributions from our readers. Some comments have been edited for clarity. Everyone can read the comments but only subscribers will be able to contribute. Thank you to everyone furthering debate across our site.