Meng Wanzhou

Friday March 1, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 1, 2019

China invokes SNC-Lavalin controversy to advocate for Huawei exec’s release

China’s Foreign Ministry grabbed a chance to question the state of judicial independence in Canada on Friday, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government faced accusations at home that it had tried to intervene to stop a corruption trial.

February 15, 2019

Trudeau’s domestic troubles have attracted attention in Chinese state media due to his previous assertion that his government cannot interfere in the case of a senior Huawei executive arrested in Canada and now fighting extradition to the United States.

Canada is likely to announce on Friday that an extradition hearing against Meng Wanzhou, the telecommunication giant’s chief financial officer, can proceed, legal experts said, worsening already icy relations with Beijing.

China has repeatedly called for the release of Meng, arrested in Vancouver in December at Washington’s request. In late January the U.S. Justice Department charged Huawei and Meng with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran.

At a regular daily news briefing in Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry took the opportunity to take Canada to task over possible double standards, by commenting on a domestic Canadian political issue that does not otherwise involve China.

Trudeau has disputed allegations by his former justice minister that government officials inappropriately pressured her to help the SNC-Lavalin construction firm avoid a corruption trial.

January 24, 2018

Asked by a state media journalist if it was contradictory for Trudeau to say he couldn’t interfere in Meng’s case while his government is accused of trying to intervene in the SNC-Lavalin case, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he “really liked this question.”

“In fact on this case you have mentioned, people in Canada are paying it a great deal of attention,” he added. “In fact, not only Chinese and Canadian citizens, but the whole world are extremely interested to hear how the Canadian government answers this question.”

Both Meng and Huawei have denied the U.S. Allegations.

Ottawa has until midnight on Friday to announce whether it will issue an authority to proceed, which would allow a court in British Columbia to start a formal extradition hearing.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has stressed that Canada is a “rule of law” country and is acting without political interference in the extradition case of Meng. (Source: CBC) 

 

Thursday January 24, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday January 24, 2019

Canada’s ambassador to China says Meng has strong defence to fight extradition

Canada’s top diplomat in China says the Huawei executive arrested in Vancouver at the request of the United States has a strong case to fight extradition, a position that has prompted backlash from the Conservative opposition in Ottawa who say this sort of interference by an ambassador should not be tolerated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

January 10, 2019

Meng Wanzhou, the 46-year-old chief financial officer of the telecom giant, has “quite good arguments on her side,” John McCallum said at a news conference with Canadian and state-owned Chinese-language media in Markham, Ont., on Tuesday.

“One, political involvement by comments from Donald Trump in her case. Two, there’s an extraterritorial aspect to her case, and three, there’s the issue of Iran sanctions which are involved in her case, and Canada does not sign on to these Iran sanctions. So I think she has some strong arguments that she can make before a judge,” he said in his opening remarks.

McCallum said a judge will ultimately make the decision on whether she should be extradited, and stressed there has been “zero involvement” by the federal government.

“It’s purely a judicial process. There may come a time when the justice minister is required to give a view, but that will not be for some months to come,” he said.

November 12, 2015

“I know this has angered China, but we have a system of extradition treaty, a system of rules of law, which are above the government. The government cannot change these things, and as I said, I think Ms. Meng has quite a strong case.”

Despite those assurances, the Liberal government to this point has not weighed in on the merits of the case or offered an opinion on the possible legal avenues her counsel could pursue in court.

In fact, before McCallum’s remarks Tuesday, the government had studiously avoided discussing the facts of the case in public. (Source: CBC) 

 

Wednesday December 12, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 12, 2018

Trump’s trade war bluster over China is rattling the world

January 26, 2017

The sharp rise of the Dow Jones industrial average since Donald Trump’s election as president in November 2016 is something he and his supporters often cite to show how he has helped the economy — and how, despite his divisive style, Trump’s tax cuts and regulation reductions have been good for America. But the president’s bluster about trade wars — “I am a Tariff Man” — and the important U.S.-China relationship has so far fuelled only chaos. Consider this week. The Dow dropped 799 points Tuesday then had a wilder day on Thursday, closing down 79 points after falling as much as 784 points.

There’s been global fallout since Saturday, when Trump asserted that Chinese President Xi Jinping had caved in his trade war with the U.S. Trump said he’d cut an “incredible” deal in which China would drop a 40 per cent import duty on American cars in return for the U.S. dropping a planned increase in tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese exports.

November 30, 2018

Initially, markets around the planet were thrilled by the news — a trade war between Earth’s two biggest economies creates headaches for nearly everyone. But as it became clear that Xi had only agreed to a 90-day truce on trade issues — not remotely what Trump claimed — investors panicked. The Dow has fallen by 2,000 points from its 2018 high, wiping out nearly all of its gains for the year. Adding to investors’ worries: the news that Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the giant Chinese tech firm Huawei, had been arrested by Canadian authorities at the U.S. Justice Department’s behest, reportedly because of Huawei’s breaking sanctions by doing business with Iran.

December 5, 2017

Given that she is the daughter of Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, who is revered in China for creating a tech behemoth that is a legitimate rival to U.S. firms, Beijing’s sharp reaction to her arrest was no surprise. But the arrest only underscored the valid reasons that Washington has for being upset with China’s trade practices. China tramples on laws and agreements it doesn’t like, not just by trading with international sponsors of terrorism and subsidizing exports but by aggressively stealing intellectual property and business secrets from U.S. tech firms. Trump has a case when he says his predecessors let Beijing get away with awful behaviour.

But it’s his problem now. He has stated that “trade wars are great and easy to win.” It’s easy to declare nonexistent wins. It’s far more difficult to stabilize the strategically vital relationship between Washington and Beijing with the care and thoughtfulness it demands — and the world needs. (Source: San Diego Union-Tribune)