On December 1, 2018, Meng Wanzhou (47), a wealthy mother of four children, was arrested by the RCMP at the Vancouver, BC airport – at the request of the U.S. government.
The CFO of Chinese communications giant Huawei – Meng was on her way to Mexico when she discovered that the U.S had accused her of “conspiracy to defraud multiple international institutions”.
The Yanks claim that Meng committed financial sleight-of-hand to illegally sell communications equipment to Iran.
In the last 10 years, Canada has detained 755 individuals for extradition and ultimately extradited 90% of them (681). 552 of the accused criminals were surrendered to the U.S.
“Once you are sought for extradition, your goose is pretty much cooked,” observed Robert Currie, a professor of law at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Despite this, Canadian legal authorities have shown little appetite for dragging criminals in foreign territories back to Canada for trial.
Even bringing our Canadian terrorists home to face justice seems to make us weak in the knees.
Meng is no run-of-the-mill CFO.
Her Father, Ren Zhengfei founded Huawei Technologies in 1987 with $6,000, and spent the next 25 years building it into an international tech giant with 2018 revenues of $105 billion.
After graduating from college in 1992, Meng started at Huawei as a secretary. Sharing DNA with the boss probably didn’t hurt her career trajectory, although the nepotism eventually bumps into a hard wall.
“None of my family members possess suitable leadership qualities” Ren told a Chinese media outlet, “and will never be included in the sequence of successors.”
After attending a bail hearing on December 7, 2018, Meng was forced to hand over her passports (she has seven). She was then permitted to return to one of her two multi-million-dollar homes in Vancouver under house arrest.
On January 28, 2019, the Department of Justice Canada confirmed that the US had formally requested Meng’s extradition. Meng’s expanded charges included, “conspiracies to commit bank and wire fraud.”
In B.C. Supreme Court, Meng’s team of lawyers claimed that she is being accused of a crime that doesn’t exist in Canada, so the extradition request by the U.S. represents an “abuse of power.”
Meng’s extradition hearing is now set for January 2020.
Has this congenial 47-year-old female executive behaved immorally?
Almost certainly.
A smart Canadian documentary called, The Corporation forwards the thesis that all corporations are ethically compromised.
They display psychopathic characteristics: endemic deceitfulness, incapacity to experience guilt, an absence of a social conscience and failure to obey laws.
A fairer question: Is Meng more crooked than her corporate peers?
Almost certainly not.
Canadian criminal defense lawyer, and extradition law expert, Gary Botting described Meng’s extradition case as “silly” and a “political type of enterprise that the United States is engaged in.”
Canada’s former ambassador to China John McCallum said, “From Canada’s point of view, if the U.S. drops the extradition request, that would be great for Canada.”
If the charges are such weak sauce, why is this Vancouver resident wearing an ankle bracelet?
Because she is a pawn in America’s trade war with China.
In fact, Cadet Bone Spurs admitted that “If it’s good for the country,” Meng could be used as a bargaining chip. “I would certainly intervene,” stated Trump.
Should Canadians care that some rich Chinese gal is detained in her $13 million Vancouver mansion – and the behest of the Americans?
Yes, we should.
Why?
Because now the Chinese are pissed off.
When that happens, they don’t mope.
They strike out.
Since Meng’s arrest, China has detained ex Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and his biz partner Michael Spavor for “spying and stealing state secrets.”
Two other Canadians convicted of drug dealing were sentenced to death. And Beijing recently blocked Canadian shipments of canola and pork worth billions of dollars.
“This is more punitive actions from the government of China in reaction to the arrest of the Huawei executive,” stated Chad MacPherson of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association.
Late Thursday night – in an act of intimidation – two Chinese jets flew within 1,200 feet of a Canadian naval vessel.
These are stories making the news. Behind the scenes, thousands of deals laboriously nurtured in Beijing by Canadian entrepreneurs, have been put on ice.
The situation is so bad that on my recent trip to China, a scheduled volunteer teaching day in the mountains was cancelled by a local official “until the mood with Canada improves”.
There are legitimate reasons to be suspicious of Huawei.
At a business dinner in Beijing, Huawei was described to this writer as “a branch of the Chinese military”.
In a report to parliament, British intelligence officials highlighted “significant security problems” with Huawei’s equipment.
John Suffolk, Huawei’s global cybersecurity officer was asked if “China could surreptitiously inject backdoor access into Huawei’s network.”
Mr. Suffolk side-stepped the question while pointing out that the U.S. had used those tactics to spy on foreigners and its own citizens. “That’s what governments do,” he added ominously.
So yes – Meng may be a criminal working for a law-breaking company.
But that’s not why Canada has her in custody.
She is in custody because we are America’s little bitches.
— Lukas Kane