|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Before Wednesday’s B.C. Supreme Court ruling in Meng Wanzhou’s ongoing extradition case, Chinese authorities were busy threatening Canada and setting the stage for the Huawei executive’s triumphant release.
Last Saturday, Meng ran up the steps in front of the court to have her picture taken giving a thumbs-up. It seemed mighty strange to Canadian eyes, but it was largely intended for a Chinese audience, who was being groomed to expect her imminent release, or to lash out in anger if the hearing didn’t go her way.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry warned that Canada “should immediately correct its mistake, release Ms. Meng and ensure her safe return to China at an early date so as to avoid any continuous harm to China-Canada relations.” Then, only hours before Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes’s ruling was handed down, leaked reports from Chinese state media saying that Meng had been found innocent started circulating on social media.
Had things turned out the way Beijing had hoped, it would have provided the perfect narrative: a Chinese businesswoman who was persecuted by Canadian and American authorities is vindicated, as a Western country cowers under the boot of an aspiring global power.
But what China’s authoritarian rulers seem incapable of understanding is that this isn’t a political decision. Once approved by Department of Justice officials, in accordance with our international treaties, an extradition request does not become a political decision until after it has made its way through the courts, at which point it is up to the minister of justice to decide on. Until then, there is a set process that must be adhered to because Canada has an independent judiciary and we are governed by the rule of law.
[…]
See Also:
(1) Forget Israel — Americans should start a ‘BDS’ movement against China ASAP
