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No clear end to China-Canada relations slide which began with arrest of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou
- Economists and global affairs experts find no way forward as 50 years of friendship continues to sour on many fronts
- All agree Ottawa is caught up in the increasingly bitter rivalry between Beijing and Washington
Reading Time:4 minutes
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Relations between Ottawa and Beijing plunged dramatically in the two years after 2016 when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang hailed “a new golden decade” between the two countries – a warm echo of his predecessor Zhu Rongji who in 1998 described Canada as “China’s best friend in the world”.
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All that changed in December 2018 when China and Canada became locked in a prolonged political and judicial struggle, with Ottawa caught in the middle of an increasingly bitter tug of war between Beijing and Washington, to which experts who gathered online for a webinar on Tuesday could see no quick solution.
The crux of the tension was the Vancouver arrest of Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies – and daughter of its founder Ren Zhengfei – on an extradition request from the US.
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China accused Canada of playing “the role of an accomplice to the US” and, in retaliation, detained Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig on espionage charges which have yet to be resolved. Since then, Ottawa has been under increasing pressure from both Beijing and Washington on a number of fronts.
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Trudeau rejects releasing Meng Wanzhou to free detained Canadians in China
Trudeau rejects releasing Meng Wanzhou to free detained Canadians in China
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