Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says heeding a widely-criticized recent call from some Canadian academics and thinkers to politically intervene to end the extradition proceedings against Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou “will imperil thousands of Canadians travelling in China and around the world.”
More than a dozen former federal cabinet ministers and diplomats signed a letter earlier this week urging Trudeau to politically intervene and order an end to the proceedings, which are moving along under the terms of the extradition treaty between Canada and the U.S.
READ MORE: Prominent Canadians call on Trudeau to end Meng Wanzhou case to free 2 Michaels
In that letter, the former officials said that Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor will likely remain in “indefinite confinement” until Meng is allowed to return to China and because of that, Canada should cave to demands from Beijing to politically intervene in her case.
Trudeau said that would embolden China and other countries that might view Canadians are bargaining chips.
“If countries around the world, including China, realize that by arbitrarily arresting random Canadians they can get what they want out of Canada politically, well, that makes an awful lot more Canadians who travel around the world vulnerable to that kind of pressure,” he said.
“I respect these individuals, but they’re wrong in their approach.”
More to come.
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