The 2-year anniversary of the Chinese illegal detainment of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig is coming up this week. The 2-year anniversary of the arrest Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was last week.
The Meng arrest in Vancouver was made at the request of the United States over allegations that Huawei violated U.S. sanctions over doing business with Iran. Canada does not have sanctions against Iran. Canada has argued that a fraud charge applies.
China hasn't said the illegal detainment against Canadian citizens Spavor (left) and Kovrig (right) is connected to the Meng arrest but clearly there is a connection. There is hope that if the Meng Wanzhou situation reaches a solution, the two Canadians will be released.
We have heard preliminary speculation of a possible deal with the U.S. Justice Department to send Meng back to China in exchange for admitting wrongdoing.
The impact of President-elect Joe Biden might have sparked the interest in making a deal. The current regime has tainted the case as Donald Trump said he would intervene in the case if doing so might lead to a trade deal with China.
Kovrig, in particular, was alarmed to hear about the impact of COVID-19 in October. Canada didn't have communication with Kovrig and Spavor from January to October 2020. Meanwhile, Meng is living in one of her 2 mansions in Vancouver, where she can freely travel around the city.
Meng Wanzhou might finally know true house arrest thanks to the COVID-19 coronavirus
Why is Meng Wanzhou still in Canada?
Canola farmers in Canada latest pawn in China battle over Meng Wanzhou arrest
We haven't seen too much NHL coverage from Rogers since the pandemic kicked in so the Huawei sponsorship hasn't been as active. Canada is the last Five Eyes country ((U.S., United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand) that hasn't decided whether Huawei will be involved in the 5G technology. You might think China would be nicer to Canada in case Canada decides to go along with Huawei.
As we have noted, China also retaliated by imposing trade restrictions on Canadian goods.
The next step in this process of getting Meng extradited to the United States is scheduled for at least April 2021.
Sanctioned: The Arrest of a Telecom Giant (CBC podcasts)
The podcast devoted to the Meng Wanzhou story did add a couple of updates in late September. If you know absolutely nothing about this story, the podcast can be useful. Your humble narrator thinks the podcast could be a lot more ambitious. The last episode is entitled "The Two Michaels" yet the episode barely mentions them. I have more questions than the podcast can provide. We can start with: Why is this extradition process taking years?
Canada paying a price to go along with U.S. desire to arrest Meng Wanzhou
CanadianCrossing.com trade coverage
President-elect Joe Biden should make his first international trip to Canada
Joe Biden will become president on January 20, 2021. Even though the United States is part of the triangle with Canada and China in the Meng Wanzhou, the story has been virtually invisible south of the 49th parallel. Canada asked Trump to speak to China and there is absolutely no proof that this has happened. A resolution should be on the agenda of the new U.S. secretary of state along with the ongoing concern from Minister of Foreign Affairs François-Philippe Champagne.
We would love for this to be the second-to-last story we ever write about Meng Wanzhou. On behalf of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, we would cover this topic until the situation is fully resolved.
photo credits: CBC News; Canadian Press video
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