By Eric Ham
WASHNGTON (MaceNews) – Now that China has completed a prisoner exchange with Canada and the United States with high-stakes trade and economic ramifications, its international reputation as heavy-handed and clumsy has not necessarily been improved.
Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor landed in Calgary, Alberta early Saturday in exchange for Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer and the daughter of the company’s founder. Wanzhou had been detained in Canada on a U.S. extradition request back in 2018.
China’s aggressive retaliation to detain two uninvolved Canadians has been labeled “hostage politics,” an example of China’s prizing the ends over the means. Yet its hardball tactics may be further emboldening Beijing’s adversaries and gaining it new ones in the process.
The legal wrangling that embroiled the three nations brings to a close this latest international saga involving the two biggest global economies. Beijing, Ottawa, and Washington were publicly pleased with the outcome. But less publicly, the growing concerns over China’s somewhat ham fisted tactics left a negative aftertaste.
Meng was out on bail living in a multimillion-dollar mansion in Vancouver since her arrest while the two Canadians were held in Chinese prison cells for over 1,000 days where the lights were kept on 24 hours a day.
This harsh treatment has not gone unnoticed by other nations. A former Obama administration official said, “China doesn’t know the difference between using a fly-swatter and a sledgehammer.”
Perhaps as backlash, India – once a so-called BRIC nation, in a loose alliance of emerging economies with China, Russia and Brazil – is now all in on the new “Quad” group of nations. President Biden last weekn hosted the first ever in-person meeting of Quad nations at the White House.
In a joint statement, the four nations – including Australia, India, Japan, they pledged to advance “the deployment of secure, open, and transparent 5G and beyond-5G networks, and working with a range of partners to foster innovation and promote trustworthy vendors and approaches.”
This seemed to be a clear signal to China the 5G space will soon have heightened competition. More importantly, India, again China’s once BRIC partner, is now openly playing for the other team.
Adding to the growing enmity, a Pew study shows 73% of Canadians surveyed this year hold negative opinions of China compared with 40% in 2017. The study also shows that across Europe, North Americaband the Asia-Pacific more than eight in 10 respondents held similar views of China.
Importantlly, Australia has announced a cooperative initiative with the United States to acquire nuclear-powered submarines. China was once its leading trade partner.
The number of nations siding against China continues to grow and a former senior pentagon official says, “China is watching with some concern but not panic.” Lithuania, Japan, Congo – the list of China opponents are growing at an alarming rate.
Contact this writer: eric@macenews.com. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author.
Content may appear first or exclusively on the Mace News premium service. For real-time delivery contact tony@macenews.com. Twitter headlines @macenewsmacro.