On September 24th Canada, released from house arrest, Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of China’s telecom giant Huawei. Hours later the Chinese Communist Party released the hostages it had been holding — former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor.
The swap is a perfect example of the Chinese Communist Party’s “hostage diplomacy” that has been criticized by Western countries. The CCP will arrest someone, usually on trumped up charges, to negotiate what it wants from a country in lieu of the release of its citizens. In this case Meng for the “two Michaels.”
According to Global Affairs Canada, as of September 26th, there are at least 115 Canadians still languishing in Chinese communist prisons.
But Canada is not alone in facing this Chinese Communist challenge. At a recent international forum hosted by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an Ottawa-based think tank, experts from Japan, Australia, and Europe came together to discuss how to deal with the CCP’s “coercive diplomacy.”
The Stories of Australia and Japan may be able to help Canada find the answers.
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