China smells weakness – so it’s picking on Canada

The battle with China over the extradition case of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, is not one that Canada chose. It is increasingly clear, however, that it is one that we cannot afford to lose, since China evidently believes that Canada is the weak link in its global contest of wills with the West.

The case of Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, Beijing’s latest thinly disguised effort to use the Chinese courts to up the pressure on Ottawa, has seriously escalated tensions. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has decried the hasty retrial and death sentence for the Canadian accused of smuggling drugs as “arbitrary.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry has responded by demanding that the Canadian government cease “such irresponsible remarks.” The two sides have traded travel advisories.

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