The Communist party of Canada demands the immediate release of Meng Wanzhou, an executive of the Huawei Corporation, who has been detained by the Canadian government because of Canadian toadying to the US government and its current trade war with China.
The US government demand that Canada hold her so that she can be extradited to the US on trumped up charges of illegal trade with Iran should be rejected and exposed by the Canadian media on the basis of fact, not fabrication.Neither Ms Meng Wanzhou, nor the Huawei Corporation, nor China have broken any international or Canadian laws concerning trade with Iran. This is “fake news” direct from the White House. All international trade sanctions against Iran were lifted with the signing of the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. Signers included all of the permanent members of the Security Council (USA, Russia, China, UK, and France) plus the European Union, Germany and Iran. US President Obama signed the agreement on behalf of the US government.
Since coming to office in 2016, President Trump and the Republican administration have done everything in their power to stoke the fires of war and aggression against governments that do not bow down to US diktat. Trump’s infamous speech to the UN in February 2018 threatened to annihilate DPRK (North Korea) and Iran, shocking the UN and peace-loving people around the world.
Following that speech, Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal and applied US sanctions on Iran, despite pressure and appeals from the UN and governments around the world for the US to remain a partner to the agreement.
Trump’s attempt to extradite Ms Meng Wanzhou to the US is a continuation of its unilateral and illegal policy of aggression and war against Iran. Canada, by its illegal detention of Meng Wanzhou, is now complicit in these illegal acts. Canada is not “caught in the middle” as the Trudeau government is suggesting, but an enabler and an accessory to what is implicitly a criminal act.
Further, by agreeing to US demands to detain Ms Meng Wanzhou and facilitate her extradition to the US, the Canadian government has branded Canada as an enabler for US dirty work around the globe. This is not a foreign policy that Canadians support, or will vote for in 2019.
The Liberal government has also now branded Canada as a hostile and unreliable global trading partner that is completely subservient to US interests. This is underscored by the sections of the NAFTA 2.0 trade agreement which prohibit Canada from negotiating free trade agreements with “non-market” economies and require Canada to advise the US in advance of future trade negotiations with other countries.
Trade with China and other countries around the world is the way for Canada to expand trade beyond the US, and to do it on much more favourable terms.
But Canada’s objective interest in developing multi-lateral and mutually beneficial trading relationships with countries around the world has been pushed off the table by the US trade war with China and by the US demands that Canada’s sovereignty and independence bend to the demands and objectives of US global hegemony.
Meng Wanzhou is not a criminal and has committed no crimes in Canada or the US. She is a victim of US hubris and an obsequious Canadian government which has just traded away what remained of Canada’s sovereignty and independence in the still to be ratified USMCA agreement.
Along with this arrest has come a new wave of anti-Chinese and anti-communist propaganda from the corporate media and politicians. Unfounded reports of the massive tech company using its technology for the purpose of spying have been circulated to try and justify Wanzhou’s arrest, even though there is no evidence whatsoever that this is the case.
Canadians are rightly concerned about security state surveillance, especially from the institutions which have a proven record of carrying out operations directed against the labour and peoples’ movements in Canada and the US: CSIS, the RCMP, CSE, NSA, FBI and CIA. Police forces in major Canadian cities are now using IMSI catchers that have the ability to eavesdrop on any cell phone within range. The Trudeau Liberals have passed Bill C-59 (essentially Harper’s Bill C-51) which greatly expanded the powers of the surveillance state in Canada. Unaccountable social media monopolies now collect information on billions of people for profit.
The Trudeau government’s clear decision to side with Trump in the US trade war with China, alongside the deepening anti-China propaganda, and the federal government’s stated intention to raise the military budget by 70% and to beef up NATO funding, raises serious alarms about the accelerating drive towards imperialist aggression and war.
The Communist Party of Canada demands that the Canadian government order the immediate release of Ms Meng Wanzhou, and reject US demands that Canada participate in illegal acts of aggression in its escalating trade and political war against China.
Canadians needs a made-in-Canada foreign policy of peace and disarmament, not aggression, disinformation, intrigue and war. And Canada needs a trade policy that is multi-lateral and mutually-beneficial, not unilateral and dependent on US governments and trans-national corporations.
The government of Canada’s actions on this matter are 180 degrees in the wrong direction – a fact that will not go unnoticed in next fall’s federal election.
Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada