3 ms·

If what you are saying is true, then why target random Canadians traveling through China? If you want to exert political pressure on the USA, then you should pu

If what you are saying is true, then why target random Canadians traveling through China? If you want to exert political pressure on the USA, then you should put political pressure on the USA. The USA doesn't care what happens to random Canadians getting arrested in China as a political reprisal. The truth is that many more Canadians would have been sympathetic towards China and Meng--some people for the reasons you are stating--nd would have argued against the extradition (in the same grain that UK people are arguing against the extradition of Assange) if the government of China had not decided to retaliate against Canada. US sanctions against Iran are a topic for discussion in Canada, Canada doesn't stand up to Iranian sanctions as much as against Cuban sanctions, but support for doing business with Iran exists in Canada. Most of that support for Meng evaporates when you get attacked by a foreign government for following the rule of law. The takeaway for a lot of people is that the government of China will retaliate against countries that "mistreat" their CEOs. Hence considering them as security risks.

DiogenesKynikos 6y ago
> Most of that support for Meng evaporates when you get attacked by a foreign government for following the rule of law. This was the message that was pretty relentlessly propagated in the media in Canada, but the reality is that the extradition of Meng Wanzhou has little to do with the rule of law. It's being done because the political and economic relationship with the US is too important to risk. The Chinese government is trying to show the Canadian government that there's a cost to going along with the US when the US tries to take Chinese executives hostage for its trade negotiations with China. From the Chinese perspective, if this extradition goes through without any retaliation, then Chinese executives abroad will be increasingly targeted by the US in order to put pressure on China. China's attempts to put pressure on Canada have backfired politically. But equally, the Trudeau government was incredibly unwise to allow Meng Wanzhou to be arrested in the first place. They could have done any number of things to avoid being placed in this situation, such as "failing" to arrest her or letting the existence of the warrant leak beforehand. When the US requested that Hong Kong extradite Snowden, Hong Kong rejected the initial request due to supposed minor technical defects, giving Snowden enough time to get on a plane. But now Canada will have to very publicly go against either the US or China.

DiogenesKynikos 6y ago

> Most of that support for Meng evaporates when you get attacked by a foreign government for following the rule of law. This was the message that was pretty relentlessly propagated in the media in Canada, but the reality is that the extradition of Meng Wanzhou has little to do with the rule of law. It's being done because the political and economic relationship with the US is too important to risk. The Chinese government is trying to show the Canadian government that there's a cost to going along with the US when the US tries to take Chinese executives hostage for its trade negotiations with China. From the Chinese perspective, if this extradition goes through without any retaliation, then Chinese executives abroad will be increasingly targeted by the US in order to put pressure on China. China's attempts to put pressure on Canada have backfired politically. But equally, the Trudeau government was incredibly unwise to allow Meng Wanzhou to be arrested in the first place. They could have done any number of things to avoid being placed in this situation, such as "failing" to arrest her or letting the existence of the warrant leak beforehand. When the US requested that Hong Kong extradite Snowden, Hong Kong rejected the initial request due to supposed minor technical defects, giving Snowden enough time to get on a plane. But now Canada will have to very publicly go against either the US or China.