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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.
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.