National Post (National Edition)
Meng ruling could unleash backlash
Stakes are high for Canada, experts say
OTTAWA • A Canadian court ruling that could permit the extradition of a senior Huawei Technologies executive to the United States leaves Canada vulnerable to further retaliation from Beijing, analysts said.
Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on Wednesday lost a challenge to a U.S. bid to extradite her to face bank-fraud charges, a decision the Chinese embassy in Ottawa strongly denounced.
For Canada, the stakes are high. After Meng’s arrest in Vancouver in December 2018, China detained two Canadian citizens on state security charges and blocked imports of some canola seed. This month, China’s CanSino Biologics Inc. began working with the country’s National Research Council to “pave the way” for future COVID-19 vaccine trials in Canada. China has been supplying the country with personal protection equipment during the outbreak.
“If China decides to cut us off from those kinds of things, people will die,” said Stephanie Carvin, an assistant professor and security expert at Ottawa’s Carleton University.
“My very strong concern is that cooperation goes away very quickly, and it leaves us in a very bad position,” she added.
Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, forecast Beijing would announce a trial date for the two Canadian citizens it is holding, as well as taking more punitive trade measures. Chinese President “Xi Jinping will want to appear strong and will want to be seen as acting against Canada,” Saint-Jacques told the CBC.
Asked on Thursday if he feared Chinese backlash, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not answer. Instead, he noted that Canada’s judiciary system is independent, and renewed his call for the immediate release of citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
“We will continue to defend our interests and our values,” Trudeau added.
He noted Meng would “undoubtedly avail herself of” further legal moves to fight the extradition request.
The dispute — which has plunged Sino-Canadian relations to an all-time low — did not dissuade Canada from signing on to the statement that criticizes China for imposing a national-security law on Hong Kong.
The Chinese territory is supposed to have autonomy under a “one country-two systems” agreement. The statement said the law is “in direct conflict” with China’s “international obligations under the principles of the legally binding” agreement that saw Britain hand over its administration of Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997.
“There are a lot of issues in play,” said Roland Paris, a former foreign-policy adviser to Trudeau and professor of international affairs at University of Ottawa.
Managing relations with China is like “walking the Razor’s edge,” he said.
“Our approach to China is one that is not naive and … we’re not afraid to take a strong line and a firm line when we need to,” said a government source in Ottawa, requesting anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.
University of British Columbia professor Paul Evans predicted the two detainees would remain behind bars for some time.
The ruling “isn’t going to make life easier for the two Michaels,” he said.
Kovrig, an ex-diplomat working for the International Crisis Group, and Spavor, an entrepreneur who did business in North Korea, have been in Chinese prisons with no access to lawyers or their families since they were detained nine days after Meng’s arrest by the RCMP on Dec. 1, 2018.
They are accused of violating China’s national security interests, and they have been denied regular monthly visits by Canadian diplomats since January because of COVID-19 restrictions on Chinese prisons.