Diplomats in China warned: Take care
OTTAWA — Canadian diplomats in China have been advised to take extra precautions because of Chinese criticism, including on social media, over the arrest of a Chinese business executive, officials said Wednesday.
A senior Canadian government official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, said the federal government expressed concerns to the Chinese government over the criticism and asked the Chinese for extra security around its embassy and other places in China.
China, as the host country, is responsible for the security of foreign diplomats on its soil, the official said.
“We have made them aware of our concerns and they have stepped up,” said an official. “We have asked our staff to be prudent.”
Canadian politicians and officials have been trying to clarify exactly where Canada stands in a larger fight between China and the United States, which has Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, and her arrest in Vancouver, at its centre.
Canada’s justice minister will have the final say on whether to send Meng to face fraud charges in the United States, she said Wednesday.
That could make Canada’s spot between two economic superpowers even more difficult.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s musing about interfering in Meng’s case is fuelling Beijing conspiracy theories about Canada’s true intent behind detaining the company’s top executive.
Canada has maintained that the rule of law is separate from politics, that the case against Meng will be judged fairly and independently. But if a court says someone should be extradited to faces charges in another country, the ultimate decision is up to a politician.
Justice Minister Jody WilsonRaybould said Wednesday that she takes her “extradition responsibilities and obligations very seriously,” and if Canada’s courts approve Meng’s extradition, “then as the minister of justice, I will ultimately have to decide on the issue of surrender of the person sought for extradition.”
Therefore, Wilson-Raybould said in a statement, she wouldn’t say any more because that “would risk undermining both the independence of the court proceedings and the proper functioning of Canada’s extradition process.
“In order to safeguard due process and to respect the independence of the courts, it is essential that the Crown’s position in this matter, as in all court proceedings, be presented in the courtroom where it can be properly considered,” she said.
But Trump complicated that position — one his own ambassador to Canada also advocated on Tuesday morning — when he told Reuters Tuesday evening he would “certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary” in Meng’s case, if it would help him forge a trade deal with China.
China’s state-run media was already ridiculing Canada’s assertion that Meng would be dealt with fairly and transparently by an independent judiciary, the same view U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft put forward.
“I think we’re lonelier than we’ve been in a long, long time,” said David Mulroney, who served former prime minister Stephen Harper as his first foreign-policy adviser and later as ambassador to China. “[Trump] gave credibility to an outrageous Chinese accusation — that the RCMP basically works as an extension of the U.S. government to capture a hostage who can be used in their trade negotiations.”