My Take | Canada should follow US and swap Meng Wanzhou

With the extradition hearing for the Huawei heiress ongoing, Ottawa’s relations with China are at their lowest point in decades, but there is a way out

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With the extradition hearing for Meng Wanzhou ongoing, Ottawa’s relations with China are at their lowest point in decades, but there is a way out. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:10am, 21 Dec 2019Updated: 5:54am, 25 Dec 2021

Reasonable people may disagree on whether the American extradition case against top Chinese telecoms executive Meng Wanzhou is politically tainted. What is not in doubt is that Washington has done little for Canada after helping to plunge its closest Western ally into its worst diplomatic and trade crisis with China in decades.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has every right to demand Washington use its leverage over China with the ongoing trade talks to help release two Canadians detained in mainland China for alleged spying. Their year-long detention is seen as retaliation for the arrest, in Vancouver, of Meng, No 2 at Huawei, the Chinese 5G telecoms pioneer.

But if past behaviour is any guide, the Americans will just brush Trudeau off, as they did with other senior Canadian officials.

An investigation by Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail as well as court documents have shown that Washington deliberately picked Canada to make the extradition request because it was most likely to play ball.

Meng’s arrest warrant, for bank fraud relating to sanctions-busting for Iran, was issued three months before her arrest at Vancouver airport on December 1. During that time, US officials had been tracking her travels to Britain, Ireland, Japan, France, Poland and Belgium, but didn’t make a move.

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