The blind admiration for the Communist government China is possibly finally wearing off ....
Ever since they joined the World Trade Organisation in 2000, there have been doubts that they were playing fair .....
This came to a head with the election of Donald Trump, who had campaigned on the devastation that moving factories abroad, and under cutting by China, had done to towns like Dayton Ohio. He has since brought this to the fore by starting a trade war with China, while on the technology front, many now fear that Chinese firms such as Huawei may be introducing back-doors into their software.
This latter fear is partly driven by the requirement of all Chinese firms to assist the communist government, after the passing of China's National Intelligence Law in 2017, that says Chinese organisations must "support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work".
However, all this is not why I am posting. No my interest is in the arbitrary use of false accusation and imprisonments that China has employed to support its regime in any trade war. For instance after Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei was arrested in Canada on an international warrant, under suspicion of US fraud and breaching US sanctions on Iran, China simply arrested the first couple of Canadians it could, to try and force Canada to hand her over to them rather than the USA.
The two men, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are not the usual dual national Chinese that the Chinese normally pick for this, but to make a point, the men are both white Canadians. Mr Kovrig is a former diplomat, and Mr Spavor, a businessman, and both were detained in December after the arrest of Ms Wanzhou. Canada has deplored these 'arbitrary detentions', but can do little to help the men, without backing down to the Chinese blackmail.
Korvig works for Brussels-based think tank the International Crisis Group (ICG), and is accused of spying on the Chinese. Mr Spavor, who was a tour operator helping tour groups visit North Korea, is accused of providing intelligence to Mr Kovrig. Of course this sort of arbitrary justice is not just used by the communists to enforce their international claims, they also practise the same misuse of justice on their own citizens.
Zhou Shifeng, the founder of a Chinese law firm known for representing cases against the government, was sentenced in 2016 to seven years in prison for subversion. He was one of around 300 lawyers and activists who were arrested in the period between 2015 and 2016 alone. Their crime was in reality 'legal activism', which if you can believe it, is trying to apply Chinese laws to help people falsely accused.
In the same week and in the same location, Tianjin, Chinese rights activist Zhai Yanmin was also found guilty of subverting state power after a one-day trial. However he was luckier and merely got a three-year suspended prison sentence. Zhai's law firm, Fengrui, specialised in human rights cases, but probably not anymore. He was described by the state run press as as an 'unqualified lawyer', and as a paid protester, and "an unemployed resident of Beijing".
There have been many more arbitrary arrests since 2016, under what's known as the 709 action (7th of September 2015, when the arrests started). China is not a land of law and justice, but is subject to the whims of the Chinese Communist Party. There is no justice in the courts, all is political.
Red in tooth and claw, and no better than the old USSR .... there is a cold war developing again, but this time the enemy has an economy that can compete with the West.
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| Cuddly China in Partnership With The USA As It Sees Itself .... |
Ever since they joined the World Trade Organisation in 2000, there have been doubts that they were playing fair .....
This came to a head with the election of Donald Trump, who had campaigned on the devastation that moving factories abroad, and under cutting by China, had done to towns like Dayton Ohio. He has since brought this to the fore by starting a trade war with China, while on the technology front, many now fear that Chinese firms such as Huawei may be introducing back-doors into their software.
This latter fear is partly driven by the requirement of all Chinese firms to assist the communist government, after the passing of China's National Intelligence Law in 2017, that says Chinese organisations must "support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work".
However, all this is not why I am posting. No my interest is in the arbitrary use of false accusation and imprisonments that China has employed to support its regime in any trade war. For instance after Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei was arrested in Canada on an international warrant, under suspicion of US fraud and breaching US sanctions on Iran, China simply arrested the first couple of Canadians it could, to try and force Canada to hand her over to them rather than the USA.
The two men, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are not the usual dual national Chinese that the Chinese normally pick for this, but to make a point, the men are both white Canadians. Mr Kovrig is a former diplomat, and Mr Spavor, a businessman, and both were detained in December after the arrest of Ms Wanzhou. Canada has deplored these 'arbitrary detentions', but can do little to help the men, without backing down to the Chinese blackmail.
Korvig works for Brussels-based think tank the International Crisis Group (ICG), and is accused of spying on the Chinese. Mr Spavor, who was a tour operator helping tour groups visit North Korea, is accused of providing intelligence to Mr Kovrig. Of course this sort of arbitrary justice is not just used by the communists to enforce their international claims, they also practise the same misuse of justice on their own citizens.
Zhou Shifeng, the founder of a Chinese law firm known for representing cases against the government, was sentenced in 2016 to seven years in prison for subversion. He was one of around 300 lawyers and activists who were arrested in the period between 2015 and 2016 alone. Their crime was in reality 'legal activism', which if you can believe it, is trying to apply Chinese laws to help people falsely accused.
In the same week and in the same location, Tianjin, Chinese rights activist Zhai Yanmin was also found guilty of subverting state power after a one-day trial. However he was luckier and merely got a three-year suspended prison sentence. Zhai's law firm, Fengrui, specialised in human rights cases, but probably not anymore. He was described by the state run press as as an 'unqualified lawyer', and as a paid protester, and "an unemployed resident of Beijing".
There have been many more arbitrary arrests since 2016, under what's known as the 709 action (7th of September 2015, when the arrests started). China is not a land of law and justice, but is subject to the whims of the Chinese Communist Party. There is no justice in the courts, all is political.
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| Number Two - Heading For Number One ... |
Red in tooth and claw, and no better than the old USSR .... there is a cold war developing again, but this time the enemy has an economy that can compete with the West.
I'm not sure their economy can compete with the West, not when the West is their customer.
ReplyDeleteA third of Chinas trade surplus comes from outside North America and Europe and they are expanding this all the time with their Belt and Road Initiative.
DeleteThe West is not united on this issue, and many would trade with China no matter what.
The old USSR on the other hand was no match with the West economically, and that's what broke them finally. Whilst China on the other hand is the world's second biggest economy, and wouldn't break easily, even if we had a united front.
They are, and will prove to be, a far more dangerous opponent as the coming decades will show.