(Newswire.net — December 14, 2018) — Chinese authorities have arrested two Canadians on security-related charges, Russia Today reports.
Facing China’s rage over the arrest of Chinese tech giant Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou, Ottawa ignored warnings from Beijing.
“China strongly urges the Canadian side to immediately release the detained person, and earnestly protect their lawful, legitimate rights, otherwise Canada must accept full responsibility for the serious consequences caused,” Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said on Saturday.
Chinese consumers and companies are holding large shares on the Canadian market and present a substantial leverage that can seriously affect the Canadian economy. For example, the second-best performer in Canada’s benchmark stock index this year – plunged by nearly 20 percent over just four days.
The legal process against Meng, who is also the daughter of a very powerful man – Huawei’s co-founder, is far from over and the pressure coming from Washington to extradite Meng for trial is becoming greater. However, Canada’s only neighbor by land is dragging the Maple Leafe State into the abyss. Now, Meng is awaiting legal check on whether to be extradited to the US.
Meng was accused of breaching the US imposed sanctions to South Korea after Huawei sold some tech equipment to the sanctioned country. Huawei, however, doesn’t need to comply because China never agreed to the embargo imposed by Washington. Now, while Canada is stuck between a rock and a hard place and is struggling to find a solution, it seems that whatever course Ottawa chooses, it will be the wrong one.
Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland warned the US not to mess with the “pursuit of justice,” Russia Today reports. The warning to Washington came after the US President Donald Trump said he could intervene in the extradition case if it benefits US trade interests with China.
Although it might be too late for Ottawa to play the “International Law card,” the world is multipolar and whatever it does, it is hard to see it coming out well for the interest of the Canadian people.