Opinion | How Meng Wanzhou’s release can still be a big win for Canada and the US

The 1,000-day ordeals of Huawei Technologies CFO Meng Wanzhou and Canadian “hostages” Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig have ended. Canada suffered a series of migraines. China gained a heroine. The United States gained nothing at all.

Canada – the least blameworthy party – has secured the freedom of its citizens while upholding the rule of law. Many Canadians will be relieved that the timing of the release did not interfere with the election on September 20, though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, returned at the head of another minority government, may not be as pleased; had the deal been reached earlier, he might have fared better.

The US has reversed a decision that should never have been made. While the fraud case against Meng was solid – as she admitted before her release – having her detained was bad policy. In requesting Meng’s extradition in 2018, the Trump administration created a martyr and lent credence to Beijing’s claims that American law is a tool of American power.

Donald Trump himself implied that Meng was a political pawn when he said he might intervene in her case to seal a trade deal with China. The Meng issue created an unnecessary distraction at a time of inevitable friction in US-China relations. Holding her, moreover, did nothing to rein in Huawei; Trump’s decision to put Huawei on the Commerce Department’s “entity list” did that.

In reaching a deferred prosecution agreement with Meng, the Biden administration removed a foreign policy distraction, aided its neighbour and created diplomatic space for Washington and Ottawa to align their China policies more closely. It did the right thing and strengthened a key alliance, even if the deal is a tacit admission that Meng’s detention was an American failure.