Canadian Christian activists Kevin Garratt and Julia Dawn Garratt, centre, pose for a family picture with son Peter, left, and sister Hannah, right. Photo: AFP PHOTO /SIMEON GARRATT A Canadian couple living in China is being investigated by authorities there for “theft of state secrets about China’s military and national defense research,” the country’s state media reported Monday.
Kevin and Julia Garratt were detained shortly after texting their son about going out for dinner on Monday, after which a brief report by the official Xinhua news agency named them as suspects.
“It sounds ridiculous,” Peter Garratt, 21, told CBC News. “Military secrets? It sounds like something out of a movie or something. Those are the accusations, but I have no idea where they are coming from or how it even came about.”
The Garratts, who first moved to China in the 1980s to teach English, have since 2008 run a restaurant popular with tourists in the the northeastern city of Dandong. “Only meters from the border of North Korea and Dandong’s Friendship Bridge, it is the perfect stop off while en route to or returning from the Hermit Kingdom,” reads a description on the website of Peter’s Coffee Shop, named after their son.
It’s unclear what drew the interest of security officials, but a conviction for stealing state secrets can carry harsh penalties. In 2010, American geologist Xue Feng was sentenced to eight years in prison for what was deemed to be a case of industrial espionage.
A man walks past Peter’s coffee house, owned by Canadian Christian couple Kevin Garratt and Julia Dawn Garratt, in Dandong, northeast China’s Liaoning province on August 5, 2014. (AFP/Getty Images)
According to the Globe and Mail, being near the sensitive North Korean border has allowed Kevin to follow the flow of goods into and out of the reclusive totalitarian country, a hobby of sorts.
“There’s all these restrictions on North Korea, but oftentimes you see a lot of restricted stuff going in, like luxury cars,” the couple’s son Peter told the newspaper.
“He just likes taking pictures, and sometimes it’s just funny – like, ‘oh this [item] is blocked, but China is giving it anyways,’ ” he said. “But it’s nothing to do with the military.”
The accusations against the couple come on the heels of a high-profile attack on the computer systems of Canada’s National Research Council, which the federal government openly blamed China for orchestrating.
China’s Foreign Ministry denied the allegation, urging Canada to provide evidence or retract the claim.
A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says the minister took up the matter with Chinese officials in Bejing during his visit to Asia.
“The minister took the opportunity to discuss the situation with his counterpart, and they had a full and frank exchange of views on the matter,” said Adam Hodge.
—with files from Canadian Press
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