Really, this mess with Meng Wanzhou had better be worth it.
The trouble we are being or might be put through: threats and deeds of reciprocity, punitive boycotts, discouragement of tourism and education abroad, dampening of the investment and trade climate, restrictions and barriers to business and technology.
On one case, on one person, it is quite the fearsome load, many months and perhaps years to unfurl and determine. America had better be sure the Huawei Technologies CFO it asked Canada to arrest at Vancouver International Airport is the sanction-breaking, shell-gaming, duplicitous mastermind it claims. Or we have been mauled masterfully by one superpower tweaking the nose of another.
Pick your damned-if-you-do-or-don’t poison: upset China with the arrest, upset America by abdicating our extradition treaty responsibility.
In exchange for procedural formality, though, there is a nice load of manure in our lap. To a Chinese public that may not be informed on our concepts of rule of law, we are being officially vilified as inhumane, disrespectful, illegal poachers of a prominent leader who has done nothing to deserve her suffering.
Unless the tone changes pronto, local retailers will likely bear a bit of a Christmas and Boxing Day dent arising from the official fury.
Add to the mix Donald Trump, never one to miss the chance to pour kerosene on a burning building, who muses about Meng as a bargaining chip to get a better trade deal with China. Always looking for a deal, that guy, be damned the rule of law.
We can only hope we stay the grown-ups in the room as the children ransack the furniture, and we are not the most burned by something we did not ignite.
Recreationally, it would be an ideal time for Meng to prove the camera claims made in commercials for Huawei smartphones: best of luck, though, in making our grey winter look sprightly. Culturally, she will have evenings to watch Hockey Night in Canada, try to figure out Don Cherry like the rest of us and divine why her company is sponsoring the show.
Academically, she has mused about taking studies while here at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business; much as I admire the faculty, she should be teaching the course, not taking it.
More seriously, her presence provides an opportunity to define the image of her company and confront important concerns – even if they are not central to her extradition proceeding, which will focus on whether there is sufficient evidence to bring her to trial in America on allegations Huawei has through another company conducted business with sanctioned countries like Iran.
Once a little dust settles, she should get out there and speak. We’re all ears, but we have questions.
There is an opportunity in this for Canada, too. An extradition hearing will provide our country with a healthy glimpse into U.S. suppositions about Huawei that seem as lost on us as they are on her. It should stimulate a more prominent debate in our country about our own industrial and political suppositions – specifically, why Canada is alone among the Five Eyes countries in not seeing undue risk to our data security in associating with a company that our allies find quite problematic and susceptible to state diktat.
The opportunity extends to our leading universities, among them the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University, now conducting research or collaborating with generous Huawei grants on vital next-generation technology. We could use reassurance along the way here with a review and more public discussion of their programs. Now, this assumes everyone behaves.
Wild card one: even though she’s amid sureties and security, she might flee. I don’t think so – but if it happens, to sanitize a saying popular in Newfoundland, the bottom is out of it.
Wild card two: even though he’s holding high office, Trump might decide to treat Meng like a hostage up for ransom. On that no one can predict.
If procedure prevails, though, brace: the speediest part of this marathon is behind us, the long slog is ahead. Let’s hope we are not too injured along the way.•
Kirk LaPointe is editor-in-chief of Business in Vancouver and vice-president, editorial, of Glacier Media.
