Beijing has many cards to play to win CFO Meng’s release

Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Friday.

“Meng’s detention has indeed triggered widespread anger in Chinese society, although I have not heard about specific situations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a routine press conference on Friday in response to whether tightened security outside the Canadian Embassy in China was due to escalating anti-Canada sentiment among Chinese public.

Former Canadian ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques suggested Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland fly to Beijing to try to “lower the temperature” in the current dispute, Global News, a Canadian broadcaster reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Canadian scholars and media outlets warned that China may sour relations with Canada in various fields including trade.

China certainly has the means to inflict pain on the relationship with Canada, Gordon Houlden, director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta, told CBC News on December 8. Making inroads into China will get more difficult and high-level visits may also be impacted, he said.

According to the website of Canadian AgriFood Trade Alliance, China will be crucial to Canada’s economic future over the next 50 years. Canadian agri-food exports to China include canola products, pulses, pork, beef and wheat.

Some Canadian agricultural exporters have already started to worry about their business.

“Everyone in the farm community is worried there might be some retaliation and the retaliation might involve canola,” Neil Townsend, a senior analyst at FarmLink Marketing Solutions in Manitoba, told Bloomberg on Thursday.

Many Canadian residents asked their government to release Meng. Under a CBC News’ post on Friday, a netizen named Gavin Blackman tweeted on Friday that “The President of the US has implied that the extradition of Meng Wanzhou is a pawn in his trade war... Why are we taking flack over this? Drop it and let her go.”

The comment referred to Donald Trump’s interview with Reuters on Tuesday in which he said he would intervene in the case if it could help close a trade deal with China.

More blows to come

Li said that China has plenty of ways to attack Canada, and China will upgrade its measures in response to Canada’s performance.

Chinese people could say no to all Canadian products, and it’s already started with the famous Canada Goose, which has seen its shares plunge in the past days and Chinese consumers calling for a boycott against it.

The brand postponed the opening of its first flagship store in China which was originally scheduled to open in Beijing on Saturday, the South China Morning Post reported Friday.

Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that China could use taxes or non-tax measures including safety or health concerns to refuse the entry of Canadian products.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported that residential home sales totaled 1,608 in the region in November, which was the lowest sales for the month since 2008. The drop in sales was not immediately linked to Meng’s case, but experts warned that it may become a reason for its continued drop in the future.

“Chinese travel agencies could cancel tour packages to Canada,” Liu said.