The sudden withdrawal of extradition proceedings against Meng Wanzhou, her release from house arrest in Vancouver, and her subsequent return to her home, family and work in China marks a final end to this embarrassing, unjustified and totally unnecessary episode in Canada-China relations and Canadian foreign policy in general. After more than 1,000 days in detention, her release is an important victory for Ms. Meng herself, for the Chinese government and people, and for all those across Canada and around the world who denounced, organized and stood by her side throughout this sorry ordeal.
Regardless of how the mainstream media has tried to spin these developments, Meng’s freedom constitutes a serious defeat for Washington’s bullying tactics, not only against the PRC but also against countries and peoples around the world which have fallen victim to U.S. imperialism’s sanctions, blackmail and other unilateral hegemonic practices.
Ever since Meng’s arbitrary detention on December 1, 2018, it has been abundantly clear that she had been targeted for use as a political pawn and bargaining chip in the new ‘cold war’ launched by the former Trump Administration, the U.S. intelligence agencies, and the anti-China cabal in Washington. This desperate attempt to weaken and undermine China’s economic advance, and to prop up its own sagging position and maintain its dominance internationally is doomed to fail, but it also risks dragging the world into a dangerous new round of the arms race and the very real possibility of global thermonuclear war.
Canada’s involvement in this whole sordid affair has been deplorable. Ottawa obsequiously complied with the U.S. extradition order against Ms. Meng, when many other countries – including other NATO members – refused to do so because of its patently political character. As a result, the Trudeau government has done serious damage to our bilateral relations with the People’s Republic of China. The onus is now on Canada to undertake significant and genuine action to reverse course, repair the damage, and strive to rebuild friendly and cooperative bilateral relations with the PRC on the basis of full equality, mutual respect and non-interference, in line with the principles of international law.
Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada