China’s Arbitrary Use of Common Rules
By Chitra Dave
There have been a series of developments in the ongoing feud between China and Canada. China has issued a travel warning to all of their citizens to warn of arbitrary detention at the request of a third-party country.[1]They have advised their citizens to be cautious of their actions and evaluate the risks before traveling to any Canadian province.[2]Canada has retaliated by issuing their own travel advisory against the Chinese. Canada cites arbitrary enforcement of Chinese criminal laws against non-Chinese nationals. Chinese-Canadian tensions reached a high in December 2018, with the arrest of Chinese national Meng Wanzhou, a HuaweiExecutivetrustee, in Canadaon espionage charges.
On December 1, 2018, Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada after the United States investigated possible sanctions against Iran.[3]It is alleged that she fraudulently misled banks about the company’s control of a securities firm in Iran. Ms. Wanzhou works for Huawei Executive. Huaweia producer of telecommunications equipment that has currently been in the news for having issues. The international community is no stranger to Huawei. Before Ms. Wanzhou’s arrest, another Huawei employee had been apprehended in Poland on espionage allegations. In the United States, President Donald Trump signed a bill that barred the U.S. Government from using Huawei equipment. The Trump Administration is alsoencouraging corporate entities to impose individual prohibitions against Huawei.
China is now saying that the detention of Ms. Wanzhou is an abuse of discretion and it is further damaging its already turbulent relationship with the United States. Canada however plans on holding Ms. Wanzhou in detention until her bail hearing.
Immediately following the arrest of Ms. Wanzhou, the Chinese government retaliatorily sentenced a Canadian citizen to death on drug smuggling charges. Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was caught trying to smuggle approximately 490 pounds of methamphetamine to Australia. Mr. Schellenberg pleaded that his explorations as a tourist visiting China were in no way tied to drug smuggling.
Prior to Schellenberg, two other Canadian citizens have also been detained by China in retaliation of the arrest of Meng Wanzhou. Prime Minister Trudeau is concerned about the severity of the sentencing that Mr. Schellenberg received. Canadian diplomats have confirmed that the other two were detained as revenge for the arrest of Ms. Wanzhou and that this verdict is a result of China bullying Canada.
China’s arbitrary use of their common rules should be of concern to all citizens visiting China. There is a lack of neutrality in the decisions that the Chinese courts are making, especially towards Americans and Canadians following the arrest of Meng Wanzhou. In retaliation they are punishing citizens from foreign countries which whom they have problems using their common law but are abusing their discretion by punishing foreign citizens to a degree much higher than their own civilians.
Canada is right for advising their citizens to travel with caution to China because they do not want to risk more Canadian citizens being detained in China based entirely on revenge. Those citizens also will have a harder time being freed and based on their violation could end up being stuck in a situation like Mr. Schellenberg and unfairly be treated by the Chinese law based on citizenship. China must put a end to their arbitrary legal decisions and actions on foreign citizens.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-4646285
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/14/asia/china-canadian-drugs-death-sentence-intl/index.html
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