Canadian firms face retaliatory risk after official’s detention: analysts

OTTAWA Canada’s arrest of a Chinese telecommunications executive in Vancouver at the request of the U.S. sparked widespread surprise, but in security and diplomatic circles it was pure déjà vu.

Canada did a similar favour for the Americans in July 2014 when it arrested a Chinese businessman in B.C. for hacking the data bases of U.S. defence contractors to steal military secrets. In that case, Su Bin — a Chinese national who had permanent residency in Canada — was eventually extradited to the U.S. where he pleaded guilty in 2016 to a criminal conspiracy to steal U.S. military secrets. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison.

But a month after Su’s initial arrest, Canadians Julia and Kevin Garratt, who lived three decades in China operating a coffee shop and doing Christian aid work, were arrested and accused of spying and stealing military secrets.

Now, there are fears of what China may do next. The Garratts have since been released after a two-year ordeal, but in light of last Saturday’s arrest of Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, concern is rising that other Canadians in China are at risk of being arrested.

“China will be furious and look for means of punishing us, in part as an example for others,” David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said Thursday. “That could include tit-for-tat moves against Canadians ...”

That view is shared by other international security analysts after Canada’s Justice Department said the U.S. is seeking Meng ’s extradition. Canada is not providing further details about the case because of a court-ordered publication ban on her pending bail hearing, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday he’s not commenting on an independent legal process.

“The Chinese are likely to play titfor-tat on this one and we should be ready for it,” said Fen Hampson, the director of the global security program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation based in southern Ontario.

Chinese foreign-ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters Thursday that his government wants Canadian officials to reveal their reasoning. He said Meng’s legal rights must be ensured.