Trade War with China

Dolcevita said:

Try Canada Goose.

Or alternatively,. Purchase Iranian agricultural products such as Pistachio, Saffron,. Date, Almond,. Walnut,. Paella, Raisin, Apricot, Fig, caviar.

Click to expand...

plawolf said:

In a way, this is a savy move by the Canadians and Americans, as global attention and sympathies about the case will now rapidly fade with their collaborators in the MSM able to safely bury the story.

Click to expand...

Jura said:

now
Law enforcement officials rebuff Trump over prosecution of Chinese executive

Updated 1:57 PM ET, Wed December 12, 2018

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Click to expand...

President Donald Trump's suggestion that he might use an arrested Chinese tech executive as a bargaining chip in trade talks with Beijing drew rebukes for setting a "terrible precedent" crossing the red line that separates American politics from the rule of law.
The remark triggered pushback from law enforcement officials, criticism from lawmakers and concern from legal and business analysts who said it's not only a weak bargaining move that might create more friction with allies, but it represents a "poisonous" precedent that could eventually undermine the safety of Americans overseas.
"The US, like Canada, we're both rule of law countries based on a constitution, legal principles, rule of law," said William Reinsch, the Scholl chair for international business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Our history is that things like this proceed through the criminal justice system and justice is blind. Trump is basically saying he might interfere with this process, which is a terrible precedent."
In an interview with Reuters Tuesday, Trump said he would intervene in the case against Meng Wanzhou if it proved beneficial in securing a trade deal that has

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

between the two countries in recent months.
The CFO of Chinese tech giant Huawei was arrested December 1 in Vancouver for violating US sanctions on Iran -- the same night Trump was dining with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G20 summit in Argentina.

'I would certainly intervene'
"Whatever's good for this country, I would do," Trump told Reuters. "If I think it's good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made -- which is a very important thing -- what's good for national security, I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary."
While

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

to Reuters violates a basic American tenet, Reinsch notes that, "on the other hand, this is exactly the kind of thing China understands ... because China isn't a rule of law country and that's what they would do."
There are also the unintended consequences to worry about, said Michael Zeldin, a CNN legal analyst and former global leader of the anti-money laundering/terrorist financing and economic and trade sanctions practice at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Washington.
"The danger is the unintended consequence of an American citizen abroad being arrested and held hostage to the arresting state's economic, trade desires," Zeldin told CNN. "But now we've set the appropriateness of Americans abroad being held hostage to trade deals. There's too much danger in that," Zeldin added. "If I was counseling the President I would say those two things should not be coupled."
If Trump were able to follow through on his impulse, it could also create more friction with Canada, Reinsch said. "It seems to me to be an odd thing to say at this point in the process," he said. "She's not in US jurisdiction. She's in Canadian jurisdiction. Intervening in the process means he would talk to [Canadian Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau, who has said more than once the normal judicial process will go ahead. It just creates another point of friction with Canada."
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Wednesday that she has spoken with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about Meng's case. When asked about Trump's comments, Freeland said Canada is not responsible for the behavior of other countries. "Canada will very faithfully follow the rule of law," she said.

'Let them grovel'
While Reinsch is adamant that Trump's suggestion is not "the way we should be behaving," he said that if Trump went ahead, it would be "a tactical mistake."
"If you're going to do it, the way to do it is make the Chinese come to us," Reinsch said. "Let them grovel for a bit and then respond. You don't give them what they want up front. What do we get if he does that? Nothing."
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, top national security, counterintelligence and cybersecurity officials testifying on Chinese espionage threats also pushed back on Trump's comments.
"What I do, what we do at the Justice Department, is law enforcement. We don't do trade," Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the department's top national security official, said at when asked about the remarks.
"We follow the facts and we vindicate violations of US law. That's what we're doing when we bring those cases, and I think it's very important for other countries to understand that we are not a tool of trade when we bring the cases," he added.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat who had asked the officials for their take on the President's comments, said he felt "the danger of the President's statement is that it makes it look like law enforcement is a tool of either trade or political or diplomatic ends of this country."

'Not in this one'
"That may be true in other countries," Blumenthal said, "but not in this one." The President's remark was "extremely disturbing to me," he said.
"It seems to me," the senator added, "that the President does a disservice to the work as well as the image of our nation in terms of law enforcement."
Demers told the committee that if Meng is extradited from Canada, as the US has requested, "our criminal case will continue," he said. He declined to comment further on the case.
Bill Priestap, the FBI assistant director in charge of the counterintelligence division, simply said the FBI would simply follow the motto "do your job."
"From the FBI's end, we're going to continue to do our job," he said.
Meng was arrested earlier this month at an airport in Vancouver, Canada, at the request of the US government, authorities have said.
The Chinese executive is

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

on Iran by telling financial institutions such as HSBC that a Huawei subsidiary, Skycom, was a separate and unaffiliated company.
On Tuesday, Meng stepped out of detention after 10 days behind bars when a judge in Canada approved her release on $10 million Canadian bail ($7.5 million US).
Officials in China, where the judicial system is subordinate to the Communist Party, will have a hard time believing Meng's arrest was due to the wheels of justice turning at their own pace, Reinsch said.
"They'll believe it has nothing do with a judge in" New York who issued the warrant for her arrest in August, he said.
Instead, said Reinsch, a former president of the National Foreign Trade Council with long experience on US-China ties, the Chinese will see the arrest as "a plot to gain leverage in the [trade] negotiations, a plot to

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, a plot to go after Huawei -- any number of plots, pick your plot."
That highlights another problem with Trump's remarks, Reinsch said. "It will be seen as validation of what they already think, that we're not a rule of law country," he said. "That's what makes it so poisonous, that they'll think we're just like them and we're not."

Click to expand...

Jura said:

noticed through

Former Canadian Diplomat Detained in China, Adding to Tensions

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

the Twitter account of Michael Kovrig;
as they say,
If You Look For Trouble, You Will Find It:

Pinned Tweet is

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The latest edition of

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

's Crisiswatch is out! Here's my bookmark, filtering for November coverage of East Asia, including China, Japan, Taiwan, and the South China Sea:
[links

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

]

Click to expand...

• International Crisis Group says China’s state security bureau was responsible for former diplomat’s detention, on whom there has been no word since Monday
• China had warned of ‘grave consequences’ after Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Sabrina Meng over alleged breaches of sanctions against Iran

Canadian former diplomat Michael Kovrig was detained by Chinese authorities because he is suspected of engaging in activities that endangered China’s national security, The Beijing News has reported.

Kovrig, who is a senior adviser for the anti-war, non-profit organisation International Crisis Group (ICG), was seized by state security on Monday night in Beijing, according to the ICG itself. The Chinese foreign ministry did not say why he was taken.

“Our reporters have learned from the relevant departments that Canadian citizen Michael John Kovrig was detained by the Beijing Municipal State Security Bureau on December 10 in accordance with the law for allegedly engaging in activities that endangered China’s national security. The case is now under investigation,” the News said.

In a regular press conference, the Foreign Ministry said that he might have broken China’s foreign NGO law if he carried out certain activities for the group in China.

“My understanding is that ICG is not registered in China … If their staff conduct activities in China, he has violated the foreign non-government organisations law,” ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Wednesday. “China will handle the case in accordance with the law.”

Lu declined to comment on whether Kovrig’s detention was related to that of Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies who was arrested in Canada at the request of the United States Justice Department.

The US is seeking Meng’s extradition on charges relating to breaches of US sanctions against Iran. She was released on C$10 million (US$7.5 million) bail on Tuesday.

ICG, which focuses on conflict resolution, said it had received no information about Kovrig, who specialises in northeast Asia, since his detention and was worried for his safety.

“Michael was detained on Monday night in Beijing by the Beijing Bureau of Chinese State Security,” the group said. “We continue to seek information on Michael’s case and well-being.”

Kovrig is a former diplomat and worked at Canada’s embassy in Beijing from 2014 to 2016. He took a leave of absence from Canada’s foreign affairs ministry to join International Crisis Group, which means he still has diplomatic status, according to Canada’s former ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques.

Saint-Jacques said he feared Kovrig would be charged with espionage because of his work in China.

Kovrig has researched security issues in northeast Asia for the group since February 2017, has published articles regularly on China’s role in peace and security, and has regularly interviewed Chinese officials for his work.

Kovrig closely followed security issues on the Korean peninsula, and frequently attended high-level forums. He attended the 8th Xiangshan military forum in Beijing in October, focusing on security in North Korea, as well as the Shangri-La Dialogue in June.

Kovrig was a commentator for CNBC on the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June.

Meng’s arrest has angered Beijing. Over the weekend, China’s vice-foreign minister Le Yucheng demanded to meet Canadian ambassador John McCallum and warned of “grave consequences”.

Canada’s Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale confirmed the Kovrig detention.

“We’re deeply concerned,” Goodale said in response to a question. “A Canadian is obviously in difficulty in China … We are sparing no effort to do everything we possibly can to look after his safety.”

Goodale said there was no explicit indication at this point that Kovrig’s detention was related to the Meng arrest.

China’s foreign NGO law states that a 10-day detention could be imposed if an NGO carries out activities in China without being registered, but criminal prosecution could follow if those activities involved state secrets.

A former diplomat said it would not be difficult for China to use Kovrig as a retaliation.

“[China] will be able to find a reason, that he travelled to sensitive regions or met with sensitive individuals or something,” the diplomat said.

“They will not say it directly but the relevant people will know in their hearts what this means diplomatically.”

David Mulroney, who served as Canada’s ambassador in Beijing from 2009 to 2012, acknowledged the possibility of Kovrig being held in reprisal for Meng’s arrest.

“I don’t want to speculate, but there is some history there that would be a cause of concern for us,” Mulroney said, referring to the case of Kevin and Julia Garratt, a married couple who were imprisoned in China on spy charges soon after Canadian authorities arrested a Chinese national in response to a US government request.

After living in China for 30 years without incident, the Garratts were arrested by Chinese security officials in August 2014 and accused of spying and stealing military secrets – charges the Garratts denied, according to reports by Canada’s CBC News.

Julia was released in February 2015, but was put on bail with restrictions pending trial, and did not return to Canada until May 2016; Kevin was not released until September 2016, the reports said.

About a month before the Garratts were detained, a Chinese national, Su Bin, was arrested in Canada on a warrant issued by the United States. Su was sentenced to 46 months in US federal prison after Canada extradited him to the US on espionage charges, according to the US Justice Department.

A relative of Kovrig told the South China Morning Post he hoped the former diplomat would return home safely without delay.

“[I hope] whatever situation has led to this circumstance – especially if it is retaliatory in nature – is resolved quickly, peacefully, and justly,” said Neill Kovrig, a cousin who lives in the US.

Neill Kovrig said he had kept in touch with his relative overseas and had great respect for him. “I find myself in awe of his intelligence and his insights on all manner of things. And I think what troubles me so much about this is seeing a relative, no matter how distant, in peril. Again, I can only hope for his safe return.”

Click to expand...

KIENCHIN said:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Looks like Trump had shot off his big mouth too quickly again

Click to expand...

manqiangrexue said:

Michael Spavor: Second Canadian 'missing' in China

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

"Canada's foreign ministry says it is trying to make contact with a second Canadian who is believed to have been detained in China.
Michael Spavor, a businessman based in Dandong near the North Korean border, had contacted Canadian officials this week to say he was being questioned."

Click to expand...