[Epoch Times September 27, 2021](Epoch Times reporter Xia Yu comprehensive report) Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, was released and returned to China after reaching an agreement with the US Department of Justice to defer prosecution. On Monday (September 27), Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that Chinese President Xi Jinping personally issued an order to deal with the Meng Wanzhou case. According to external analysis, Meng Wanzhou’s return to China has not changed the overall situation of the competition between the United States and China and Canada and China.
In addition, after Meng Wanzhou was released, the CCP immediately released the former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor who were accused of espionage.
“General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions.” Hua Chunying said at a regular press conference on Monday. Hua did not elaborate on what Xi did.
Hua Chunying also stated that Kovrig and Michael Spaffer, who returned to Canada late last week, were released on bail due to health reasons. Hua did not answer the reporter’s question about the health of the two Canadians.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CBC stated that Hua Chunying said this because Beijing tried to downplay the connection between the two Canadians’ release and Meng Wanzhou’s return to China.
Meng and U.S. federal prosecutors reached an agreement to suspend the prosecution. Meng Wanzhou admitted all the facts of the fraud allegations against her by the U.S. Department of Justice and admitted her “wrongdoing” as a condition for the United States to postpone the prosecution.
The Chinese Communist Party’s official media reported heavily on Meng Wanzhou’s return to China. In contrast, only the tabloid Global Times reported on the release of the two Canadians, but CCTV or Xinhua News Agency and other national media did not report.
Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau told CBC’s Rosemary Barton Live on Sunday (September 26) that CCP media reports are mainly used for local propaganda.
The outside world generally firmly believes that the arrest of the two Canadians was Beijing’s retaliation for the Meng Wanzhou case, thereby putting pressure on Ottawa. Canada and other Western countries have also accused Beijing of “hostage diplomacy”, but the CCP has always denied that the two are connected in any way. On Monday, Hua Chunying still insisted that the two cases were not related.
Former Canadian diplomat Colin Robertson told CTV News on Saturday that the rapid release of the two Michaels showed that their detention was actually retaliatory. “This is obviously an admission that this is indeed for the retaliatory hostage-taking of Meng Wanzhou (arrested),” he said.
On Sunday (September 26), when Kirsten Hillman, the Canadian ambassador to the United States, was asked whether this was a hostage diplomatic case, Hillman said that facts proved it. “I think everyone has come to a conclusion that proves this point.” She said.
Sophie Richardson, director of the China Department of Human Rights Watch, told ARD that this shows that “the Chinese (CCP) leadership is always ready to use innocent people as a bargaining chip to get what they want in other countries. This is a worrying development.”
Although Xi Jinping personally ordered the handling of the Meng Wanzhou case, will Meng be free when he returns to China? China research expert Yokogawa said in the latest episode of “Yokogawa Views” that the CCP wants her to go back, not necessarily for her to be a hero, and she might have a glorious moment in the first few days. In the long run, it is another matter, not to mention that she also admitted the facts of the accusation and left evidence. As far as the CCP is concerned, people who are stained will not let her go. In history, the CCP has made great efforts to get people back from overseas. No one is because he is a hero or an important figure in a powerful group. Those who get back are people who need to be punished and rectified. For example, there are hundreds of red criminals and dissidents.
Although Beijing has always insisted that the United States should take the first step to improve U.S.-China relations, former U.S. Department of Defense official Van Jackson told the Financial Times that the Biden administration seems to intend to resolve the Meng Wanzhou case as a U.S.-China case. It is a springboard for more cooperation, but compared to the deep negative relationship between the two countries, this matter is too trivial. “The United States and China are already rivals in the system. Although the two sides have the opportunity to cooperate in the hostility, they cannot change the overall situation.”
The Global Times quoted an expert in an article last Saturday as saying that China’s release of Canadians “removed the bottleneck in China-Canada relations.” But Lynette Ong, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto, said that bilateral relations are unlikely to thaw immediately, and the sourness will persist.
“Looking forward, I don’t think Canada-China relations will be the same as before 1,000 days (two Canadians were imprisoned in China for about 1,000 days).” She said, “(China-Canada relations) are fundamentally different…I think China Underestimated the cost of playing this hostage diplomacy game. Its reputation (the CCP) has been greatly damaged.”
A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center this year found that more than 70% of Canadians have “unfavorable” views of China, a record high, far higher than 45% in 2018.
Editor in charge: Li Huanyu#
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