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Opinion | Canada should drop Meng Wanzhou case, shaking free of US coattails
- Canada has the right to halt the case, and strong reasons to do so, given the legal questions around the arrest and Trump’s political motivations. A resolution would help repair damaged ties with China
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In October 1970, Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau took a momentous step to establish relations with the People’s Republic of China. It was a bold move – Nixon’s famous visit to China was still two years off, and only a handful of Western countries had embassies in Beijing at the time.
Trudeau’s outreach proved to be a breakthrough. Canada went on to build deep ties with China and many other countries soon followed in recognising Beijing.
Fifty years later, an unfortunate turn of events has left Trudeau’s son – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – in a rather more difficult position.
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A legal drama has unfolded since December 2018, when Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested on a US warrant during a stopover in Vancouver. The episode has entangled Ottawa in President Donald Trump’s crusade against Huawei, to the detriment of Canada’s interests and its relations with China.
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Trudeau rejects releasing Meng Wanzhou to free detained Canadians in China
Trudeau rejects releasing Meng Wanzhou to free detained Canadians in China
New developments have opened a window for Canada to extricate itself from this awkward position. In recent days, Meng’s lawyers have raised serious questions over the circumstances of her arrest. This follows an application last month to halt proceedings to extradite Meng to the US on accusations of misleading HSBC over Huawei’s links to a company operating in Iran.
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