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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.
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!
Not according to the minister of justice who is responsible for this case:
âoeAt each stage of the extradition process in Canada, there is careful balancing of the interests of the person sought for extradition against Canadaâ(TM)s international obligations. The person sought is able to challenge their extradition at multiple levels, both before the superior and appellate courts in Canada, and by making submissions to me on the issue of surrender. â
https://www.canada.ca/en/depar...
I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
If you knew what those words mean, you'd understand that they support what I said.
Do you understand that "international obligations" is referring to compliance with their extradition treaty?
Do you understand that "balancing the interests" means making sure that they have a lawyer, and that they receive the correct process?
Do you understand that they have a right to challenge their extradition, but that is only designed to succeed where the paperwork is out of order, or where there was some legal problem with the way they were arrested?
It is diplomatic language, and you clearly don't understand what was said. That's why I used simple words.