FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Canada reveals true colours by joining US attack on China tech

Canada reveals true colours by joining US attack on China tech

China is justified in reacting indignantly to the indignities imposed on Meng Wanzhou, a Chinese citizen who was detained by the Canadian authorities at the behest of the US Justice Department while she was in transit between flights in Vancouver on December 1.

Like any other country in the world, China has an obligation to protect the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens. Hence, the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned Canadian Ambassador to China John McCallum on Saturday and United States Ambassador to China Terry Branstad on Sunday to express its strong protest at Meng’s detention and demand the reasons for the action, as no justification had been given.
Because it has an extradition treaty with the US, Canada might feel it is caught in the middle of the conflict between Washington and Beijing. In reality, though, this is a position of its own choosing. By detaining Huawei’s chief 
financial officer, Ottawa is not upholding the law but instead letting itself be used as a tool of US law enforcement, which is itself being politicised to achieve Washington’s policy objective of weakening China’s corporate competitiveness.
The US is not only trying to tarnish the image of one of China’s most successful companies overseas – along with its Belt and Road Initiative and overseas investments – it is also using its unilateral sanctions against Iran and the extended reach of extraterritoriality to stretch the arm of its law to try and fatally damage the competitiveness of one of China’s technology leaders. This amounts to hijacking the extradition system for its political aims.
Ties between Canada and China were in their best shape for years before Meng’s detention. Last month, the two sides held the first economic and financial strategic dialogue, vowing to deepen cooperation and press ahead with negotiations on a free trade agreement. But the move by Ottawa has revealed its true colours and Beijing will now need to consider what is its best course of action.
Meng’s detention has also added more pressure on China-US ties, which seemed to be on a positive trajectory after having fallen to their lowest point in years thanks to US-instigated trade frictions. With this in mind, US politicians should refrain from fanning the flames of the current incident by making provocative remarks.
In this regard, US Senator Marco Rubio’s words on Sunday were most inappropriate. When asked on a CBS programme about his reaction to Meng’s detention, Rubio said he wanted to reintroduce legislation that would ban Huawei and its fellow Chinese telecom companies from doing business in the US.
The US politician’s presumption of guilt in Meng’s case was both appalling and revealing, since not only did it not conform to the principles of human rights touted by Rubio’s own country, it also laid bare the political motivation behind her detention, which runs counter to the spirit of the law.

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