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President Trump To Use Huawei CFO As a Bargaining Chip (politico.com)
hackingbear shares a report from Politico, adding: "This fuels the suspicion that the Chinese executive is held as a hostage for the ongoing trade negotiation with China." From the report: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he reserved the right to weigh in on the Justice Department's case against the CFO of Huawei, if it would help him close a trade deal with Beijing or would serve other American national security interests. "If I think it's good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made -- which is a very important thing -- what's good for national security -- I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary," Trump told Reuters. Trump added that President Xi Jinping of China had not called him about the case, but that the White House had been in touch with both the Justice Department and Chinese officials. Huawei's CFO, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Canada earlier this month at the request of American authorities, who allege that she violated U.S. sanctions against Iran. Yesterday, a Vancouver judge ruled that Meng would be released on a $7.5 million bail if she remains in British Columbia.
This seems like a dangerous/crazy step to take. How does this type of negotiation tactic end? (ie - has someone thought out the likely reactions and steps the Other Side is likely to take?) What's to stop other countries from following suit?
Traditional diplomacy rested on a sort of 'gentleman's agreement'. While some of that diplomacy took forever and yielded less than we wished, at least (on the surface) it was civilized and seemed to prevent harm. Our current course could get unpleasant quickly.
Or am I just overthinking this?
Indeed.
Canada acted in good faith in accordance with international law. Canada's politicians do not have the ability to tell the legal system what to do, because it's independent.
If Canada has been played in Trump's pissing contest with China ... and certainly Trump is suggesting he'd exert influence over the US legal system to get his way .. then I agree with this entirely, and hopefully the judiciary deems that since the US didn't act in good faith we consider the matter dropped.
This is no different from Russian sending out INTERPOL red notices to suppress dissent.
Trump seems to be literally suggesting he'd actively pressure the department of justice to either stage this, or to drop charges.
This is some scary shit, and if this is the kind of ally the US is, then I will likely never go there again. The US is on a path of becoming a very scary and dangerous nation in terms of what it is willing to do with its friends to prove a point.
Fuck you, America.
Canada should absolutely determine that the US extradition request was made in bad faith. Except... Now the Chinese have gone and disappeared a couple of Canadian citizens, which means we'll look like chumps if we give in to China. Thanks for involving us in your stupid pissing match, US and China.