The son of a Canadian couple arrested in China on suspicion of stealing state secrets about military and national defense research said on Friday the situation is “mind-boggling.”
Kevin Garratt, 54, and Julia Dawn Garratt, 53, are being investigated by the state security bureau in China’s northeastern city of Dandong, which borders North Korea, according to Xinhua news agency.
Son Simeon Garratt, 27, said his parents ran a coffee shop and did Christian aid work for North Koreans. He said there must have been a mistake and hopes his parents will be released.
Photo: Reuters
“It really is bizarre,” he said in a telephone interview in Vancouver. “There’s no possible scenario I can think of that makes it plausible.”
The accusations against the couple were reported on Monday last week, almost a week after Canada accused a China-sponsored hacker of infiltrating Canada’s National Research Council, a top research and development organization. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed strong displeasure over the allegation, urging Canada to withdraw the “groundless” accusation.
Canadian consular officials were able to secure a meeting with the Garratts on Wednesday, meeting separately with each of them for 30 minutes, their son said.
“We are in contact with local Chinese authorities and the family and are monitoring developments closely,” Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman John Babcock said.
Simeon Garratt said his parents were at a restaurant on Monday when police detained them.
“They’ve been separated ever since,” he said. “My dad is probably freaking out, wondering if my mom is OK, and she’s probably doing the same.”
He said his mother reported that their conditions were fine.
He believes his parents are being held in nongovernmental compounds in Dandong.
Simeon Garratt said legal documents, computer equipment, telephones, an electric piano, money and two safes have been taken from the couple’s home and coffee shop, located just a few hundred meters from the North Korean border.
He said his brother, Peter, is in China studying languages on a Chinese scholarship and has received brief ntoes from their parents.
He said his parents’ experience with China and its government would help them in this situation.
“They know how the Chinese government works. They’re not scared for their lives or anything like that,” he said. “It’s going to be a process.”
The couple had worked with North Star Aid, whose Web site said the British Columbia-registered charity seeks to help North Koreans primarily through providing humanitarian aid.
Simeon Garratt said his parents made no secret of their faith, but did not flaunt it in China, where proselytizing is against the law.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was