Communist Party leader Elizabeth Rowley called today for the Canadian government to immediately end the extradition process against Meng Wanzhou and allow her to return to her home and family in China. Ms. Meng, the chief financial officer of the Chinese high tech giant Huawei, was detained on December 1, 2018 by Canada Border Services Agency officers when she arrived at Vancouver International Airport. She has remained under house arrest ever since, while the B.C. Supreme Court conducts hearings to determine whether she will be extradited to the U.S. to face fraud charges in New York.
“Meng Wanzhou should never have been detained in the first place”, Ms. Rowley said. “It was clear from the outset that the groundless charges leveled against her [upon which the extradition request was based] were politically motivated… part of a larger geopolitical strategy by Washington to weaken and undermine Huawei and China’s cutting edge high tech sector.”
“Former President Trump made this abundantly clear when, a few days following Meng’s detention, he blurted out in a press conference that the extradition order would ‘go away’ if China agreed to terms demanded by Washington in a new trade pact then being negotiated between the U.S. and China”.
“In other words, Washington has already conceded that the detention of Meng Wanzhou was being used as a ‘bargaining chip’ to extort Beijing to accept concessions in the trade negotiations”, Elizabeth Rowley added.
“There’s a lot of chatter in the mainstream media these days about China exercising ‘coercive diplomacy’. Well, what is more coercive than arresting a foreign national and using her as a hostage to achieve political and economic advantage?”
The Communist Party leader also condemned Canada’s complicit role in this matter. Rowley noted that prior to Canada’s decision to act on the U.S. extradition order against Ms. Meng, several other countries – including some NATO members – refused to act on Washington’s request, deeming it groundless and politically motivated.
“Ottawa’s pandering to Washington’s attack on Meng Wanzhou, Huawei and China in this whole sordid and farcical affair is not only embarrassing; it has seriously undermined Canada’s economic, political and diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, one of largest trading partners. And it has cost millions in lost revenue and thousands of jobs, especially in the agricultural and retail sectors,” Rowley said.
“Following the election, the incoming Minister of Justice can end this travesty of (in)justice once and for all by exercising ministerial prerogative under Canada’s Extradition Act” Rowley added. “And the Minister can do so with the stroke of a pen.”
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For more information, please contact Elizabeth Rowley at 416-469-2446.
To learn more about the Meng case, people are encouraged to register and attend an upcoming webinar, organized by the Cross-Canada Coalition to Free Meng Wanzhou, to be held on Wednesday, September 22 at 7:00 pm (Eastern).
More information is available at https://www.facebook.com/events/2371757139628528
For Zoom registration – https://bit.ly/RELEASEMENGNOW