generalspeaking

China's Misdeeds Haunt Canada

"On the question of law posed, I conclude that, as a matter of law, the double criminality requirement for extradition is capable of being met in this case."
"It is important to note that these allegations are unproven but must be taken as true for the purpose of this application [for extradition]."
"She [Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou] is said to have made false statements to HSBC in 2013, significantly understating Huawei's relationship with Skycom Tech.Co.Ltd., a company based in Iran."
"Although Huawei had sold its shareholding in Skycom some years before the August 2013 meeting, and Ms.Meng had resigned from Skycom's board, Huawei in reality continued to control Skycom and its banking and business operations in Iran."
B.C.Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes, 23-page extradition decision

Meng Wanzhou leaves B.C. Supreme Court after losing bid to stop her extradition  CBC

"The purpose of the United States is to bring down Huawei and other Chinese high-tech companies, and Canada has been acting in the process as an accomplice of the United States."
"The whole case is entirely a grave political incident."
Chinese Embassy statement, Ottawa

"Huawei continues to stand with Ms.Meng in her pursuit for [sic] justice and freedom."
"We expect that Canada's judicial system will ultimately prove Ms.Meng's innocence. Ms. Meng's lawyers will continue to work tirelessly to see justice is served."
Huawei statement

Meng poses with friends and family on the steps of the B.C. Supreme Court building in downtown Vancouver days before a judge ruled on her extradition case. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

So, there it is. The judgement that will mean two innocent Canadians who just happened to be in China conducting business at the time that Huawei's executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in December 2018 at the Vancouver airport on an extradition warrant issued by the United States with which Canada has a longstanding extradition agreement, made them handy as victimized hostages for Beijing, designating the two men, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, as engaged in espionage against China.

They sit mouldering in extremely onerous situations for all this time, while Meng, who was speedily given bail, and lives in the interim in either of her two luxury mansions in Vancouver, awaits the process that will send her to the United States for trial on the charges brought against her. The suspense over whether she would be freed and allowed to return to China, her lawyers having argued that the charges brought against her would not be crimes in Canada, now over, their claims having been rejected.

Her extradition case continues and it is expected that as Meng, remaining on her $10-million bail conditions, and her lawyers will appeal this ruling it will take years before the Supreme Court, if it agrees to hear the case, will be able to sit in judgement; she can wait that time out in leisure and luxury. Canada's Beijing CCP hostages remain in their dire confinement, without access to consular services, ostensibly as a protective measure against COVID.

Ms. Meng is a high-tech princess in China -- her father, Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei, a company linked with the Chinese military apparatus, just as he was himself at one point a high-placed military functionary -- and as such she has the weight of the Chinese government behind her. A government that has relentlessly punished Canada for its 'error' in honouring its extradition agreement with its neighbour to the south.

Kidnapping Canadians for the ransom of Ms.Meng's release, punishing Canadian trade by cutting back its imports of canola and pork, though both are hugely popular and needed products in China, to extract maximum pain from Canada, in a humiliating situation where Canada is helpless to exert real pressure to force Beijing to release two innocent Canadians.

In a situation where Canada's prime minister continues to step on eggshells around China, barely able to contain his disappointment at the fading hopes for a free trade agreement with the trading behemoth. A prime minister who should put a stop to ingratiating himself with China.

A good beginning would be by stating unequivocally that it is Canada's choice not to allow Huawei to be involved in Canada's future 5G upgrade. And go on from there to make it clear that Beijing's interference in Canada must stop, outlawing the presence of Beijing's outreach arm, its soft-power tool, the United Front.

Canada and the world at large have been gifted by China entirely too much. Its coersive techniques, its threatening tactics, its scolding of those who criticize its lack of respect for human rights, its nagging of opponents, urging them to admit their errors and reverse them -- to China's benefit. We watch as Hong Kong's hopes for continued autonomy are brutally set back, as Taiwan is blacklisted by China. As Beijing reaches further for territorial advantage, threatening its neighbours.

As the world is overwhelmed by a viral plague that China failed to warn the WHO of in good time, and even as its epidemic proportions spread in China, Beijing allowed it to be exported through its borders kept open for Chinese to travel abroad, while expressing its contempt for 'racists' who felt they should close their borders to Chinese travelers. Beijing closed its borders only when it feared that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was returning courtesy of Chinese returning home from Europe, left a raging volcano of COVID infection.

Meng Wanzhou leaves B.C. Supreme Court after the court loss in Vancouver on Monday. (Ben Nelms/CBC)