The arrest in Vancouver last December of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou has created a China-Canada crisis like no other. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to manage a diplomatic standoff with Beijing. Nor, sadly, are we unfamiliar with Chinese intimidation by means of nasty reprisals against innocent Canadians. But in the past, whatever the dispute, the crisis has eventually found bottom, and the Chinese have then shifted focus from retaliation to resolution.
Of course the other element that exceptionally complicates this case is that the United States is also a player in the drama, and not simply because it was the U.S. that requested Ms. Meng’s arrest. The Americans are pushing, with some success, for an ambitious new trade agreement with China, one that could help level a playing field that has long been tilted in Beijing’s favour. But President Donald Trump refuses to rule out the possibility that he might use Ms.
The U.S. should stay focused on making its case to have Ms. Meng extradited. In January, an impressive array of senior U.S. law-enforcement officials made a compelling presentation alleging that Ms. Meng attempted to defraud a financial institution by offering misleading information about Huawei’s activities in Iran. Now these same officials must convince a Canadian judge that their case holds water.
GlobeDebate Time to start rounding up Chinese in this country who aren’t citizens and send them home.
GlobeDebate OH GEE, CANADA RELEASES MENG FROM 'RULE OF LAW!!' CANADA JAWS AND 'HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSING!!' COMMUNIST CHINA 'DICTATORSHIP!!' LAW WILL RELEASE CANADIAN HOSTAGES!!
GlobeDebate Good chance they don't want to poison the people with our grains!