“Canadians should be angry that these traitors are isolating Canada from China, from Russia, from Iran and their great cultures, and condemning Canada to be nothing more than an outpost of the American empire. For traitors they are as they betray the Canadian people by serving the interests of the Americans and their war machine.” – Christopher Black (Dec. 14, 2018) [1]
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One of the most dramatic diplomatic ruptures in the history of Canada-China relations is taking place as we near the end of 2018. It revolves around Canada’s arrest and detention of Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, a top executive with the Chinese tech company Huawei, in response to an extradition request from the United States.
As explained in British Columbia Supreme Court, days after the December 1st arrest, Ms. Meng was wanted on charges of fraud, including the use of a Huawei subsidiary to conduct business with Iran, in violation of the sanctions the U.S. had imposed on that country.
Ms. Meng was released on a $10 million bail, with additional conditions that she live in one of her two Vancouver homes, restricted to that residence between the hours of 11pm and 6am local time, that she be monitored 24/7, that she surrender all of her passports, and that she wear an ankle bracelet around the clock. [2]
Chinese officials, upset by this state of affairs, threatened “revenge” and “unnecessary troubles” for Canada if it did not release the Chinese CFO. China has since arrested 2 Canadian nationals: entrepreneur Michael Spavor, and former diplomat Michael Korvig. [3]
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland called these detentions “arbitrary” as opposed to what she called Canada’s “fair, unbiased and transparent legal proceeding with respect to Meng Wanzhou.” Adding that Canada “respects its international legal commitments, including by honouring its extradition treaty with the United States.” As of this writing, the Canadian government’s demand for the release of the two detained Canadians has the backing of both the U.S. State Department and the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs.[4]
There is an interesting backdrop to this high profile diplomatic dispute getting ignored by most of the major press in Canada. The Australian Press exposed a meeting of the Five Eyes intelligence network with Prime Minister Trudeau at an undisclosed location in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia this past summer. The intelligence chiefs spoke of threats coming from China. Since the meeting, there has been an unprecedented campaign to ban Huawei technology from the emerging 5G networks in the Five Eyes countries, namely Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. The argument is that Huawei would use advanced capabilities to provide intelligence to the Chinese government, making it a threat to national security.[5]
On this week’s Global Research News Hour, we explore the geopolitical, economic and legal dimensions of the stand-off between the U.S. and Canada and with the world’s most populous nation.
Starting off the discussion, Professor Michel Chossudovsky provides more background on the Western alliance’s concerns about Huawei technology and the stakes for Canada, the US and the world. Later in the program, esteemed international criminal lawyer Christopher Black details the problems with the Canadian government’s arguments that they are acting in accord with the rule of law in the Meng Wanzhou case. Finally, Ron Unz of the Unz review, elaborates on his thesis that there is an achilles heel within the U.S. power structure that the Chinese could easily exploit that would compel the release of Meng Wanzhou from the extradition order.
Professor Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor (Emeritus) of Economics at the University of Ottawa, and Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization.
Christopher Black is an international criminal lawyer based in Toronto. He is known for a number of high-profile war crimes cases and recently published his novel “Beneath the Clouds. He writes essays on international law, politics and world events, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.” He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
Trained as a theoretical physicist, Ron Unz has experience in the financial services industry and in politics and in public policy activities. He served as publisher of The American Conservative from 2006 to 2013, and currently serves as Editor-In-Chief and Publisher of the Unz Review.
(Global Research News Hour Episode 241)
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The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM in Winnipeg. The programme is also podcast at globalresearch.ca . Excerpts of the show have begun airing on Rabble Radio and appear as podcasts at rabble.ca.
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Notes:
- https://www.globalresearch.ca/canada-holds-hostage-free-meng-wanzhou/5662877
- https://globalnews.ca/news/4749540/meng-wanzhou-huawei-bail-hearing-day-3/
- https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-will-pay-chinese-state-media-threaten-repercussions-over-huawei-arrest-1.4216293
- https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2179193/canada-and-us-demand-immediate-release-canadians-michael-spavor
- Chris Uhlmann & Angus Grigg (Dec. 13, 2018), ‘How the ‘Five Eyes’ cooked up the campaign to kill Huawei’, Sydney Morning Herald; https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/how-the-five-eyes-cooked-up-the-campaign-to-kill-huawei-20181213-p50m24.html
