Canada’s ambassador to China has issued a terse apology for comments earlier this week that suggested Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei executive detained in Canada on a U.S. arrest warrant, has a strong case to fight her extradition because her arrest was politically motivated.
“I regret that my comments with respect to the legal proceedings of Ms. Meng have created confusion. I misspoke. These comments do not accurately represent my position on this issue,” John McCallum said in a statement.
“As the government has consistently made clear, there has been no political involvement in this process.”
Speaking with Canadian Chinese-language media in the Toronto suburb of Markham on Tuesday, McCallum said Meng, whose arrest in Canada has led to a bruising diplomatic showdown between Ottawa and Beijing, has “quite good arguments on her side.”
“One, political involvement by comments from Donald Trump in her case. Two, there’s an extraterritorial aspect to her case, and three, there’s the issue of Iran sanctions which are involved in her case, and Canada does not sign on to these Iran sanctions,” McCallum said in his opening remarks at the press conference. “So I think she has some strong arguments that she can make before a judge.”
Tensions with China were sparked when Canada arrested Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou upon an extradition request from the U.S. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press/file)
McCallum’s surprisingly candid remarks especially unusual since Canadian officials almost never comment on ongoing judicial cases for fear of appearing to undermine the jealously guarded judicial independence set off a firestorm in Ottawa.
“If I were Prime Minister, I would fire John McCallum,” said Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer in an interview with CBC’s Power & Politics.
When asked to comment on McCallum’s comments on Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sidestepped the question sticking to his earlier message that Canada is “a country of a rule of law.”
“We will make sure that the rule of law is properly and fully followed,” Trudeau told reporters during a press conference in La Loche, Saskatchewan.
“That of course includes the opportunity for her to mount a strong defence. That is part of our justice system and we are going to apply that justice system in its integrity as all Canadians and indeed people around the world expect us to do as a country.”
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