VANCOUVER—Canada is at risk of retaliation from China, including the arrest of Canadians in the country, said a former ambassador to China after the chief financial officer of Chinese-owned Huawei was taken into custody this week.With the bail hearing of Meng Wanzhou currently underway in a Vancouver court, Canada is “caught in the middle” between an extradition treaty with the U.S. and a Chinese technological powerhouse, said Guy Saint-Jacques, former ambassador to China and currently a fellow at the China Institute at the University of Alberta. He said that Canada is now vulnerable to retaliation.“When you look at everything we are not a very important country for China. I’m afraid they will want to put a lot of pressure on us ... and they have no qualms with doing things that I would qualify as nasty,” he told StarMetro.Saint-Jacques said that China could try different tactics to ramp up pressure, such as arresting Canadians doing business with China. This move would not be unprecedented. In 2014, Canadians Julia and Kevin Garratt were arrested by Chinese officials and accused of spying, in a move that Saint-Jacques and many in the international community believed to be retaliation for the arrest of Chinese citizen Su Bin in Canada that same year, who was accused of hacking U.S. military databases.Read more:Bail hearing for Huawei exec reveals fraud allegations at heart of international strifeWhat we know and don’t know about the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng WanzhouWoman arrested in Vancouver helped turn Huawei into household name in China“Whether they want to arrest some Canadian business people to put pressure on the Canadian government ... we hope it won’t become too ugly,” said Saint-Jacques.While Meng’s bail hearing will wrap up this week, Saint-Jacques said that Meng’s lawyer will likely try to delay extradition, leaving her in Canadian custody — and leaving Canada under increasi ...
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