816 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 79 PART 6 NOVEMBER 2021
Meng Wanzhou Trial and Mounting Tensions
between Canada and China”, Toronto Star (24 September
2021), online: <www.thestar.com/news/
canada/2021/09/24/a-timeline-of-the-mengwanzhou
trial-and-mounting-tensions-betweencanada
and-china.html>.
4. 2018 BCSC 2255. Meng was unsuccessful in applying
for a variation in the terms of her judicial interim
release (2021 BCSC 137).
5. The Federal Court also became involved, in determining
whether certain sensitive information could
be disclosed (2020 FC 844).
6. As quoted in Jason Proctor, “Crown Wraps Meng
Wanzhou Extradition Case with Claim Charge Not
‘Unique or Unprecedented’”, CBC (12 August
2021), online: <www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britishcolumbia
/meng-wanzhou-extradition-crown-final-
1.6139195>.
7. “B.C. Court Drops Extradition Case After Meng
Wanzhou Enters Deferred Prosecution Agreement in
U.S.”, Radio-Canada (24 September 2021), online:
<ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/1826820/b-ccourt
drops-extradition-case-after-meng-wanzhouenters
deferred-prosecution-agreement-in-u-s->.
8. Statement from the Department of Justice Canada,
“Extradition in Canada” (24 September 2021),
online: <www.canada.ca/en/department-justice/
news/2021/09/statement-from-the-department-ofjustice
canada.html>.
9. “B.C. Court Drops Extradition Case After Meng
Wanzhou Enters Deferred Prosecution Agreement in
U.S.”, supra note 7.
10. Joan Bryden et al, “Kovrig and Spavor on Way Back
to Canada After Nearly Three Years Detention in
China”, The Canadian Press (24 September 2021,
updated 25 September 2021), online: <www.cp24.
com/mobile/news/kovrig-and-spavor-on-wayback
to-canada-after-nearly-three-years-detentionin
china-1.5599256>; Rob Gilroy, “Evening Up-
date: Canada Drops Extradition Case Against Meng
Wanzhou After Her Deal with U.S. Prosecutors; Fate
of the Two Michaels Remains Unknown”, The Globe
and Mail (24 September 2021), online: <www.theglobeandmail.
com/canada/article-evening-updatecanada
drops-extradition-case-against-meng-
wanzhou/>.
11. “Meng Wanzhou Believed to Have Left Canada After
B.C. Court Drops Extradition Case”, CBC News (24
September 2021), online: <www.cbc.ca/news/
politics/meng-wanzhou-us-court-1.6188093>.
12. “Extradition in Canada”, supra note 8.
13. “Meng Wanzhou Believed to Have Left Canada”,
supra note 11.
14. A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs noted on September 25, 2021 that “it has
long been a fully proven fact that this is an incident
of political persecution against a Chinese citizen, an
act designed to hobble Chinese high-tech companies.”
She described “the so-called ‘fraud’ charges
against Ms. Meng Wanzhou” as “purely fabricated.
Even HSBC, the so-called ‘victim’ portrayed by the
US side, has disclosed materials that are sufficient to
prove Ms. Meng’s innocence.” She concluded:
“What the United States and Canada have done is a
typical case of arbitrary detention”: “Foreign Ministry
Spokesperson Hua Chunying’s Remarks on
Meng Wanzhou’s Return to China” (25 September
2021), online: <www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xw
fw_665399/s2510_665401/t1909814.shtml>.
The Economist notes, more generally, under the
heading “The rule of law with Chinese characteristics”,
that “there are coherent arguments that China
could make against Ms Meng’s detention, drawing
on its dislike of extraterritorial sanctions and prosecutions
by America. Instead, in explaining her case,
officials mostly present a cynical view of the law as a
tool by which power is exercised”: “When China
Wants to Be Feared”, The Economist (30 September
2021), online: <www.economist.com/china/2021/
10/02/when-china-wants-to-be-feared>.
15. Robert Fife, “Biden’s Intervention Led to Freedom for
Two Michaels, Sources Say”, The Globe and Mail
(27 September 2021; updated September 28,
2021), online: <www.theglobeandmail.com/politics
/article-bidens-intervention-led-to-freedom-for-twomichaels
sources-say/>.
16. Assaly, supra note 3.
17. Alexandra Alper & Michael Martina, “White House
Rebuts Idea That Huawei’s Meng Was Freed in Prisoner
Swap”, Reuters (27 September 2021), online:
<www.reuters.com/world/china/white-house-xiraised
case-huawei-cfo-recent-call-with-biden-
2021-09-27/>.
18. As noted in The Economist, “China wants the world
to know that it is willing to grab foreigners, if needs
be”: “When China Wants to Be Feared”, supra note
14.
19. Of course, the complexities underlying this simple
statement should not be overlooked. Careful thought
must go into law’s content, including the scope of values
that it should address (one view on this being
Pierre Trudeau’s “there’s no place for the state in the
bedrooms of the nation”), how to determine whether
a value is in fact broadly shared and whether laws
that could harm a minority (rather than simply not
being its preferred option) should automatically be
off the table (as, in some cases, constitutional protections
might achieve). Tragic mismatches can arise
and no doubt have, including during the many years
in which large parts of the population did not have
access even to the ballot box as a means of conveying
values important to them (even assuming the
choice for whom to vote could have been a proxy for
doing so). One might also ask in some cases whether
laws should be enacted that get ahead of, and ultimately
reshape, the majority view into one that legislators
may believe is preferable.
20. Supra note 1 at 173.
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