World watches as Ottawa faces off with Beijing
Extradition case could have global consequences, political observers say
VANCOUVER— International political observers are urging the Canadian government to proceed cautiously as it faces mounting pressure at home to pull the plug on extradition proceedings against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.
It isn’t just Canada with a stake in the situation, they say; the consequences could be felt around the world.
The world is watching the Canadian government’s dispute with Beijing, said Christopher Sands, director of the Center for Canadian Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.
“I think a lot of countries, whether it’s Britain or France or Japan or Australia or Mexico, I think, they’re all looking to see how Canada handles this,” Sands said.
“Do they fight back? Do they stand their ground? Do they cave? They know they may be the next country on China’s bad list.”
Last week, it was announced that Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, arrested in China in 2018 shortly after Meng was arrested in Canada, had been charged with espionage-related offences. Many analysts have described the detention of the two men as hostage diplomacy in retaliation for Meng’s arrest. Prime Minister Trudeau has confirmed Chinese officials see a link between the cases.
Meng was arrested on a request from authorities in the United States, where she is wanted on several charges, including fraud, related to the operations of a Huawei subsidiary in Iran. She is under house arrest in Vancouver while her extradition process plays out. On Wednesday, CBC News reported 19 high-profile Canadians, including former members of Parliament and diplomats, have signed a letter urging Canada to stop extradition proceedings against Meng. The letter said such a move could result in Spavor and Kovrig — “the two Michaels” — being released and sent home.
“The two Michaels were taken in direct retaliation for the arrest in Canada of Meng Wanzhou. We believe that the two Michaels will remain in their Chinese prison cells until Meng is free to return to China,” the letter reportedly said.
Earlier in the week, Vina Nadjibulla, Kovrig’s wife in Canada, former justice minister Allan Rock and former Supreme Court of Canada justice Louise Arbour all spoke out publicly in favour of Ottawa at least considering the option of stopping the extradition process.
“Maybe there are things that are not being considered,” Nadjibulla told the Star on Wednesday. “That’s what we’re asking for, is that conversation and political attention on those issues.”
She called the situation for Kovrig and Spavor “dire” and said it has to come to an end.
Nadjibulla, Rock and Arbour previously sought a legal opinion from Toronto lawyer Brian Greenspan, who concluded in a letter to Justice Minister David Lametti last month that Canada has the legal authority to intervene and withdraw its support from the extradition case at any time. But in an email to the Star, Greenspan maintained he did not take the position on whether Canada should intervene, only that it could.
In a statement, Lametti’s office said the extradition process “ensures that individual rights are protected and that those sought for extradition are afforded due process before the courts, while honouring our international treaty obligations.
“We are well aware of the laws and processes governing this important regime,” it said, adding it would not be appropriate to comment further on a case before the courts.
In Beijing on Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, said releasing Meng could “open up space for resolution” of the situation for the two men.
But, Sam Armstrong of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a newly formed organization made up of elected officials around the world working together to counter China’s influence, said the situation is greater than Canada versus China.
The Chinese Communist Party is trying to challenge the norms of democratic countries and reshape them in a way that is closer to China’s own system, said Armstrong, a British spokesman for the group, cautioning the stakes are high around the world.
“A prisoner swap is not an ordinary part of western liberal values,” he said. “It’s part of the tool kit of the despot who can make decisions about courts and who goes where.”
Those values include an independent judiciary free from government interference, which China lacks, Armstrong said.