Slashdot Mirror
Canada's Ambassador To China Hopes US Won't Extradite Huawei Exec, Gets Fired (go.com)
First, a Canadian diplomat on Thursday contradicted what he'd said on Wednesday, according to a story shared by hackingbear:
John McCallum, Canada's ambassador in China, appeared to provide legal advice to Meng Wanzhou, who is fighting extradition to the U.S. over fraud allegations. Saying she had a "strong case", McCallum outlined numerous weaknesses of the legal proceedings: political interference from Donald Trump, the extraterritorial nature of the charges and the fact that Canada is not party to American sanctions against Iran.
"I regret that my comments with respect to the legal proceedings of Ms Meng have created confusion. I misspoke," McCallum said in a statement released late on Thursday afternoon. "These comments do not accurately represent my position on the issue. As the government has consistently made clear, there has been no political involvement in this process."
But ABC News reports that the same diplomat then said Friday that it would be "great" for Canada if the U.S. dropped its extradition request, "in what seem like off script remarks again...."
"The Canadian government didn't return multiple messages in response to questions about whether McCallum is speaking for the Canadian government."
UPDATE (1/26/2019): "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has fired Canada's ambassador to China, John McCallum," reports the BBC.
"I regret that my comments with respect to the legal proceedings of Ms Meng have created confusion. I misspoke," McCallum said in a statement released late on Thursday afternoon. "These comments do not accurately represent my position on the issue. As the government has consistently made clear, there has been no political involvement in this process."
But ABC News reports that the same diplomat then said Friday that it would be "great" for Canada if the U.S. dropped its extradition request, "in what seem like off script remarks again...."
"The Canadian government didn't return multiple messages in response to questions about whether McCallum is speaking for the Canadian government."
UPDATE (1/26/2019): "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has fired Canada's ambassador to China, John McCallum," reports the BBC.
American media confuses fear with respect.
We tell American leaders one thing so they leave us in peace, but when those nutjobs are out of the room, we still talk to each other like humans.
Basically, the ambassador is like somebody excusing his drunk friend who's currently having a psychosis.
And btw, we're still on the side of the American people. Even if the media-influenced part of those same people fight us, tooth and nail, to protect their enemy.
Just because you have more advanced brainwashing methods, doesn't mean you're relevantly different.
China is just better at capitalism than the Trump administration, and the USA is better at dictatorship than China. The grass is always more dystopic on the other side, I guess ...
Guy who's job will get harder if thing happens recommends not doing thing.
I feel sorry for him in a way. He is probably a great ambassador, but these diplomats when the spotlight suddenly shines on them sometimes have no idea what to do. He is basically right on all counts -- she does have a strong case, and it would be better for Canada if the US just dropped the issue. He just doesn't know enough to keep his mouth shut while this is going on, because in Canada (unlike in China) this is a legal case, not a political one. That is why the PM is keeping his mouth shut (and why he should to). In the US the president has (as we have seen) his/her own set of powers. In Canada the PMs power ends with the ruling party's will to go along with him/her. They don't have any power unto themselves unless emergency measures are declared.
Since I'm on my soapbox anyway... Before open source was the bomb we had something called "source code licenses". You sign a legal document and you got the full source of the product which you could compile yourself or even make changes to if you needed to. If I were worried about a foreign power spying on my citizens I would require (by law) that providers of communication technology from foreign powers have the source code in their possession, require deployments to be compiled from source, and enact stiff fines for unauthorized surveillance (that could be globally enforced). Yes it could still happen, but just imagine a foreign power like China thinking about the geeks of a foreign nation pouring over one of your pet company's source code. Either they have nothing to hide or they will suddenly not be that interested in selling to you after all and the political BS will stop.
I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
What the fuck would she get in China if the Party didn't like her on a whim?
CHARBROILED OX PENIS which is a delicacy in western China
Yeah. "Linked". Like Iraq was "linked" to WMDs.
How is it, that you *still* fall for that bullshit? Especially with it being told *by* those who *actually really* make your own damn country go down the shitter.
Hint: ALL phone manufacturers do that. Because otherwise their own government rapes them! Do you truly believe Motorola and Apple didn't get national security letters to bug all their devices?
No, it's not OK. In any case, including Huawei's.
But that is not what this is about!
That's my point!
This is about petty nationalist (that's a derogatory term by the way) sand box wars between toddlers.
About creating an athmosphere of hate between people purely for profit reasons.
(Profit means "taking things without giving back the fair same amount". So it's in the same category as theft, robbery, fraud, etc.)
That one is.
“One, political involvement by comments from [US President] Donald Trump in her case. Two, there’s an extraterritorial aspect to her case, and three, there’s the issue of Iran sanctions which are involved in her case, and Canada does not sign on to these Iran sanctions. So I think she has some strong arguments that she can make before a judge,” McCallum said.
Sounds like /. is also afraid of publishing stories inconvenient to the American public.
And this ambassador had to retract his words after facing political pressure from Canada’s main opposition party leader for McCallum’s removal. Great for freedom of speech!
and they reminded him quietly that if he didn't tow the line the dirt would go public.
Especially if China executes the people they have detained. Time to show China that it is a peon compared to the mightiest power in the history of Earth.
Corporatism != Free Market
Screw the extradition treaties, you can't just bend over and pull the pants down everytime the U.S. waves its cock and wants to throw someone in prison for life to bully other governments into doing what they want.
Canada's Prime Minister asked the ambassador to step down, because of his previous remarks on the case of the Huaweoi executive who is detained and waiting extradition hearings to the USA.
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
He's an embarassing old man leftover from the Cretin Liberal era (90s-2003). He was sent to China to be forgotten about and die. That he has publiclly shown Canada's political class to be so easily moved by Chinese money is the real problem for Justin.
How do they work?
Dumb chink.
About fucking time.
A single judge in Ontario stopped a pipeline expansion between Alberta and B.C.
You know nothing about how bribed and "independant" many of Canada's judiciaries are. Also they can't be "reined in". Go ask Steven Harper.. he'll tell you all you can do is control the GG through extortion over her expense accounts.
I remind you the NDP Beard led all the polls before the last national election and was clearly going to be the next PM but fucked it up with two months of talking about trans issues rather than the economy and security.
He was asked to resign: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politi...
--
Luck is just skill you didn't know you had.
Meng Wanzhou has been arrested and is facing an extradition hearing in a Canadian court. The courts are part of the judiciary. John McCallum was literally the voice of the Canadian government in China. The government can never give its opinion on an individual's ongoing case while it is before the courts. I think after McCallum's first comments it was assumed he would either resign or at least apologize. The fact that he gave another opinion on the case is completely outrageous and shows McCallum to be completely ill suited to be an ambassador or to work in any capacity as part of the government. The Canadian prime minister is going to get grilled on this issue for not having fired McCallum sooner.
Note it doesn't matter if McCallum's statements are true, false, or just his personal opinion. The fact that he is the Canadian Ambassador to China means he can't say those things.
Huawei is a great company that leads the world of the mobiles.
Who does it want to charge this company Huawei? The American government (for misleading it).
Might be why he was fired.
That's "whose". Repeat after me: Possessives do not get apostrophes.
Also, ambassador guy no longer ambassador.
How come this news did not mention the evil Russians? Surely they had a hand in all this.
The reason why open source became such a big deal was Microsoft refused to share the source code with China to make sure there were no NSA backdoors. its not China we have to worry about when we are talking about big brother
**Life is too short to be serious**
Extradiditon by nature is a political decision because a nations law do not extend beyond its borders. Every extradition treaty has national interest loophole clauses in it. What it comes down to is whether China can cause enough pain for Canada to believe it is in their interest to invoke the loophole in this case.
**Life is too short to be serious**
His job as Canada's ambassador to China is to keep good relations between China and Canada. He should not give a fuck about Canada's relations with USA unless he is the ambassador to USA. If his comments make this look like the vengeful misuse of the judicial process that it is and it gets USA panties in a bunch - too bad- he needs to calm down his host country over this gross misuse of the judicial process and if he can do so by pointing out the available loopholes good for him.
**Life is too short to be serious**
That was not an extradition case. Extradition by definition is political. Go read the US-Canada treaty. very clearly says the govt can override it in national interest.
**Life is too short to be serious**
VLADIMIR PUTIN enjoys tipping cows in rural Botswana while DONALD TRUMP looks on with approval, Chinese EMPEROR XI smokes his pipe, and Euro-peon grandee EMMANUEL MACRON dances like a hired fool!!
"What? You mean I can't just shoot off my mouth, repeatedly, and make life difficult for my elected bosses, who were elected to set policy and not me?"
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
That's the main difference, but their are many others.
The US Govt can't shut up the press or their people. Freedoms guaranteed in the USA.
In China, the press is owned by the govt and "causing trouble" is illegal. Thugs (aka police) come to your home, beat you up, threaten you and your family, and prevent you from travel.
And China puts people in "education camps" over their religion. Over 1M last estimate.
Smartphones in China must have govt tracking app installed. Police randomly verify this.
Tienanmen Square; they admit to killing over 1,022 civilians. Other estimates are over 10,000 deaths.
Their elections are fixed - only approved party members can be on the ballot.
Don't forget what China is and how they behave.
Stealing https://www.wsj.com/articles/S...
https://www.reuters.com/articl...
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/1...
China hacked over 125 orgs.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-p...
The Chinese govt commonly lies. This happened while The US/China economic espionage pact was in-force beginning in 2016.
Yeah, China is nothing like the USA.
Wrong. She IS the party.
Hahahaha! The US is one of the least safe countries to live in. You have one of the highest crime rates anywhere in the world and the largest imprisoned population anywhere. You have regular mass shootings, gang shootings, violent robberies and people being killed by drunk and/or distracted drivers (gotta check your Facebook every 5 seconds). When I watch American news, it's always bad and always about violence and people getting killed. When I watch my local news, it's usually politics or normal, non-violent events.
The United States is a cesspool filled with inexperienced, uncultured, untravelled, materialistic, superficial, hostile and outright violent scum. It is literally the worst country I have ever been to.
Cool. You took a trip to the US once and can now speak as an expert. Pray tell, world traveler, what land you hail from? And yes, I know, you're a troll, but I'm curious.
Actually, the job of a diplomat is to be "diplomatic" and to represent your country to a foreign country. And yes, he needs to "give a fuck", because his employer gives a fuck.
On a personal level diplomats are routinely reassigned to different countries. One diplomatic posting leads to another, which leads to another. One of the characteristics of a successful diplomat is that they can be reassigned and find success in their new posting. That too is a result of "giving a fuck."
Therefore your comment is a fail at literally every level:
- You have failed to describe a Diplomat;
- You have failed to describe the success attributes of any employee anywhere;
- You have failed to describe what a country wants from it's Ambassadors;
- You have failed to describe the current sensitivities between Canada, China and the United States.
I remind you the NDP Beard led all the polls before the last national election and was clearly going to be the next PM but fucked it up with two months of talking about trans issues rather than the economy and security.
Correction, economy and security. Canada likely wouldn't survive as a nation if the NDP became the leaders. Especially with the complaints of what they're doing now at a provincial level.
Om, nomnomnom...