Ottawa willing dupe for Washington's power play
China is justified in reacting indignantly to the indignities imposed on Meng Wanzhou, a Chinese citizen who was detained by the Canadian authorities at the behest of the US Justice Department while she was in transit between flights in Vancouver on Dec 1.
Like any other country in the world, it has an obligation to protect the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens. Hence, the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned Canadian Ambassador to China John McCallum on Saturday and United States Ambassador to China Terry Branstad on Sunday to express its strong protests at Meng's detention and demand the reasons for her detention, as no justification had been given.
Having an extradition treaty with the US, Ottawa might feel it is caught in the middle of the conflict between Washington and Beijing, but to be frank that is the position it has chosen to put itself in. Since by detaining Huawei's chief financial officer, Ottawa is not upholding the law but instead letting itself be used as a tool of US law enforcement, which is itself being politicized to achieve Washington's policy objective of weakening China's corporate competitiveness.