That comes after Spavor threatened to sue Ottawa for more than C$10 million for gross negligence in handling intelligence gathered in China. The government of Justin Trudeau had dismissed Spavor’s claims as hogwash, but now, rather swiftly, is offering him C$3 million-plus. Who knows what beans Spavor is ready to spill if he and his lawyers ever take his case to a Canadian court?

Canada in payout talks with two Michaels over China detainment: report

Kovrig may have lucked out, having played the good soldier with stoicism and silence since his release. After all, Ottawa can’t just pay one Michael and not the other.

The two men were detained after Meng was arrested in Vancouver on an American warrant for fraud and breaching US sanction laws, though it now seems clear it was all part of Washington’s decade-long attempt to destroy Huawei as the world’s once leading 5G supplier, a prelude to the US’ open tech war against China.

We will probably never know for sure whether Kovrig was a card-carrying spy. What we do know is that he had worked as a Canadian diplomat in Hong Kong and Beijing and spoke Mandarin. Subsequently, he was hired as a senior adviser by the International Crisis Group, which describes itself as an “independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict”.

Kovrig’s area for his advisory work was Northeast Asia, which of course, included North Korea.

According to a 2019 BBC report, “Few people can claim to have sipped cocktails on board North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s private yacht, but Michael Spavor is one of them.”

Spavor had jet-skied with Kim near the port city of Wonsan. His official business in the North was to run an organisation called the Paektu Cultural Exchange, which promotes tourism and foreign investment. But he was also the unlikely go-between for Kim and former American basketball star Dennis Rodman, leading to an unlikely friendship. He was also a former resident of Pyongyang and spoke good Korean.

Someone with his background would presumably be of immense interest to Western intelligence. According to Spavor, Kovrig reached out to him, but he didn’t think any exchange between the two would be shared with anyone else. But it was apparently shared, widely.

China says Canada is distorting facts over jailing of ‘Two Michaels’

According to an earlier Globe and Mail report, the Canadian government has a confidential reporting channel that officials may use to share information or intelligence they have collected. The channel is open to the intelligence services of the English-speaking nations of the so-called Five Eyes alliance. Kovrig reportedly fed information he gleaned from the other Michael into the channel.

Spavor’s allegation of gross negligence presumably has to do with all that. After their arrest, Chinese state media reported that Spavor “had provided intelligence … and was an important intelligence contact” of Kovrig. Ottawa immediately denied that, saying both men were innocent and were being unlawfully detained.

The whole sorry saga looks set to continue, at least on the Canadian side. Spavor is reportedly not happy with the government’s compensation offer. But Ottawa says it’s not ready to put up more money. Is that a negotiating tactic? Raising the offer for one Michael will presumably have to be met for the other one. Will Spavor take his government to court, in which case more James Bond-like stuff may be revealed? Stay tuned.