We have been following the legal case of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of China’s telecommunications giant Huawei, who has been accused of conspiracy to defraud banks after the company allegedly skirted sanctions on Iran.
This week, a third Canadian has been arrested amid the continuing legal action against Meng.
The recent detention of a third Canadian in China differs from earlier ones that authorities allege involve security matters, a Chinese government spokeswoman said Thursday.In the latest case, Sarah McIver received an administrative penalty for illegal employment, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing. She did not provide further details.The detentions of two Canadian men last week appeared to be retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a Chinese telecommunications executive wanted in the United States.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to this development with the vim and vigor Legal Insurrection readers would expect.
“Escalation or very strong political statements can actually end up being counterproductive to,” Trudeau said, noting political posturing or statements are not necessarily going to help those detained. “Escalation and political posturing might be satisfactory in the short term to make yourself seem like you are stomping on the table and doing something significant, but it may not contribute to the outcome we all want.”The latest case doesn’t seem to fit the pattern of the previous two, and Trudeau said he favors de-escalating the tensions.
Many Canadians were unhappy with the tepid response. Subsequently, both Canadian and U.S. diplomats have now formally demanded the release of the two detained men, entrepreneur Michael Spavor and former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig.
The US and Canada have called for China to release two Canadians detained in what is thought to be a set of tit-for-tat reprisals for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.It is the first time either country has directly demanded their release, with Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, having been criticized by the opposition earlier in the week for suggesting that ordering China to free the country’s citizens would be like “stomping on the table”.”We are deeply concerned by the arbitrary detention by Chinese authorities of two Canadians earlier this month and call for their immediate release,” Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s foreign minister, said in a statement….Ms Freeland’s statement was echoed by US State Department spokesman Robert Palladino, who stressed their northern neighbour was honoring its international legal commitments by apprehending Ms Meng.
Steven W. Mosher of the New York Post takes a look at Meng, to reveal what might be the motivation for these detentions. His look at the “Communist Princess” is fascinating.
It turns out that “Princess” Meng, as she is called, is Communist royalty. Her grandfather was a close comrade of Chairman Mao during the Chinese Civil War, who went on to become vice governor of China’s largest province.She is also the daughter of Huawei’s Founder and Chairman, Ren Zhengfei. Daddy is grooming her to succeed him when he retires.In other words, Meng is the heiress apparent of China’s largest and most advanced hi-tech company, and one which plays a key role in China’s grand strategy of global domination.Huawei is a leader in 5G technology and, earlier this year, surpassed Apple to become the second largest smartphone maker in the world behind Samsung.But Huawei is much more than an innocent manufacturer of smartphones.It is a spy agency of the Chinese Communist Party….All organizations and citizens,” reads Article 7 of China’s National Intelligence Law, “must support, assist with, and collaborate in national intelligence work, and guard the national intelligence work secrets they are privy to.”All Chinese companies, whether they are private or owned by the state, are now part and parcel of the party’s massive overseas espionage campaign.
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