For almost three years – just like the length of their detention in China – Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were seen by Canadian society as inseparable. Commonly referred to as "the two Michaels" by the press, they were two Canadian citizens who were "unjustly" accused of "spying" by Beijing, according to Justin Trudeau's government. They were said to be victims of Chinese reprisals after the Canadian police arrested Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei and a daughter of this Chinese telecoms group's founder, in Vancouver in December 2018 at the US justice system's request. The incident had provoked an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between China and Canada, before a September 24, 2021, judicial agreement reached in Washington allowed Meng to return home, and the two men to regain their freedom on the same day.

Today however, the pair is torn apart, turning into "Michael versus Michael": One has blamed the other for his arrest, and in the process has lent credence to Beijing's allegations of "spying." In its November 18 edition, the Canadian daily newspaper The Globe and Mail revealed that consultant and former businessman Spavor had accused Kovrig of having "unwittingly provided intelligence on North Korea to Canada and allied spy services." A fluent Korean speaker, Spavor was one of the few Westerners to have met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un; he also helped organize former basketball star Dennis Rodman's visits to Pyongyang, during which the player struck up a friendship with the dictator.

Kovrig, who was then working at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing as a diplomat with the Global Security Reporting Program, is said to have gleaned this information from conversations with Spavor. Passed on to the Canadian government, then disseminated to the intelligence services of the "Five Eyes" alliance – an intelligence-sharing community comprising the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to Canada – this information seems to have been responsible for Spavor's conviction for "spying for a foreign entity and illegally providing state secrets," for which he was sentenced to 11 years in prison in August 2021. Also imprisoned for "spying for state secrets and intelligence," Kovrig had not been tried before his release.

The Globe and Mail revealed that Spavor has retained the services of a major Toronto lawyer to claim "a multimillion-dollar settlement" in compensation from Ottawa for his 1020-day-long detention.

His accusations contradict the version the Canadian authorities have maintained regarding the reason for the two men's incarceration. For almost three years, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has firmly rejected China's allegations. "It has been obvious from the beginning that this was a political decision made by the Chinese government [after Meng Wanzhou's arrest], and we deplore it and have from the very beginning," he declared in June 2020.

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