Response by Consul General Tong Xiaoling to Questions of Ming Pao on Meng Wanzhou Incident
2021-08-28 06:51

 

 

Q:Ms. Meng Wanzhou has been detained in Canada for over 1000 days. What impact does the Meng case have on China-Canada relations? Does it also affect the people-to-people exchanges between China and Canada?

A: August 26 marks the 1000th day of Ms. Meng Wanzhou’s groundless and arbitrary detention by Canada since December 1, 2018. From the very beginning, China has repeatedly pointed out that the case of Meng Wanzhou is purely a political incident. The US government's request for the extradition of Meng Wanzhou from Canada is in essence an abuse of legal procedures to suppress Chinese hi-tech companies and obstruct the development of Chinese science and technology. China will never accept any form of political coercion or abuse of justice, and will never allow Chinese citizens to become victims of political persecution of another country. The Chinese government is determined to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and enterprises. Any attempt to bully or oppress the Chinese people will inevitably be met with strong fightback.

The Canadian side, ignoring the US' political agenda and the fact that Ms. Meng had not violated any Canadian law, has groundlessly detained her for over 1000 days. Canada has played as an accomplice for the US' political persecution against a Chinese citizen and aroused strong indignation from the Chinese people. China and Canada have neither historical issues nor major conflicts of interest. However, the Meng Wanzhou incident has caused serious setbacks in China-Canada relations and normal exchanges between the two peoples.

Despite the setbacks, China and Canada still maintain a wide space for economic and trade cooperation, people to people exchanges and in multilateral areas. In the first half of 2021, bilateral trade achieved robust increase which is higher than those of Canada's overall foreign trade, export and import. Canada has unique advantages in the areas of energy and mineral resources, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, clean technology, financial services, and winter sports, etc. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games will stimulate 300 million Chinese people to participate in winter sports, which will undoubtedly bring long-term benefits to the Canadian winter sports industry. The two countries agree with each other on major issues related to human future like climate change and environment protections. To unleash the potential for cooperation between the two countries and promote the traditional friendship between the two peoples, Canada should make the right decision as soon as possible to resolve the Meng Wanzhou incident, and thus clear obstacles to the development of relations between the two countries.

We have noticed that more and more people have realized that the essence of the Meng Wanzhou incident is purely political, illegal, and injustice. China’s Global Times published an open letter to the Canadian ambassador to China and launched an online petition. Nearly 15 million people have added their names to the letter. This is China's public opinion. many Canadians with vision have been calling on the Canadian government to end the extradition process of Ms. Meng Wanzhou in accordance with Canada's Extradition Act.

We urge the Canadian government to face up to the political nature of the incident and the solemn position of China, listen to the public opinion of Chinese people and the voice of justice from all sides, respect their common desire of steering China-Canada relations back on track, recognize and correct its mistakes and release Ms. Meng Wanzhou and ensure her early and safe return to China.

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