Almost three years after Meng Wanzhou, Chief Financial Officer of China's Huawei Company, was arrested in Canada in December 2018, she finally reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to extend the prosecution last weekend, which was essentially released in court and returned to China safely.
At the same time, two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were detained by the Chinese government for espionage immediately after Meng Wanzhou's arrest, were also released back to Canada by China.
No matter how the parties insist that the incident does not involve a political nature, the results of Meng Wanzhou and the two Canadians are hard to deny that it was a political hostage exchange. The two involved the political rivalry between China and the United States, while Canada was wrongly judged. The situation is caught between the two major powers.
Meng Wanzhou was arrested in the early stages of the Sino-US wrestling, and his release so far has important implications for the entire Sino-US wrestling: Although the United States has tried every means to attack China with its usual tactics, these US methods have not had the expected effect on China.
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How does China "do not eat this set"
Meng Wanzhou is not only an executive of a Chinese company, but also represents China's leading technology company Huawei.
The U.S.'s suppression of her and Huawei unexpectedly reminds us that the U.S. used similar methods to deal with French company Alstom.
Alstom was once known as the "Pearl of Industry" in France and has a leading position in power generation and transportation networks.
The United States detained Alstom executive Pierucci in 2013 because it believed that Alstom threatened its dominance, and forced him to confess to commercial bribery in a project in Indonesia, and then use this as an excuse to defuse it. Alstom Group sold its core power project to General Electric Company of the United States.
The Alstom incident was written as "American Trap" by Frédéric Pierucci and is widely known. However, in addition to this, the United States has used the so-called "legal system" to crack down on threatening foreign companies and acquire them as American companies. There are still many examples of the model, like the US sanctions against Japan’s Toshiba in the 1980s and so on.
These examples are a lesson for China. If Meng Wanzhou and Huawei succumb to US sanctions, the company may collapse.
But just as the central government often talks about "China does not eat this", China finally chose to support Huawei in dealing with the United States to the end. Even if Huawei was sanctioned by the United States, Meng Wanzhou did not easily plead guilty.
This of course does not mean that France is willing to be attacked by Alstom. The reason why China can persist in dealing with the United States to the end is that China has this capital.
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The U.S. has no ability to restrain China
Starting from the full outbreak of the Sino-US struggle in 2018, China is ready to deal with the United States for a long time.
China understands that its strengths lie in a complete industrial chain and industrial capabilities, strong infrastructure, and a dividend that is nearly four times the population of the United States.
China can withstand the short-term blows brought about by US sanctions, but the US has no trump card to force China to surrender.
The result of the trade war has fully demonstrated that China has integrated into the world trading system, and that the United States' restrictions on China are far less powerful than some hawks imagined.
Meng Wanzhou’s release was not due to the improvement of Sino-US or Sino-Canada diplomatic relations. A reasonable explanation can only be realized by the United States that it can no longer benefit from China in this way.
"Release Meng Wanzhou" was one of the "correction checklists" handed over to the United States by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs when U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Sherman came to China at the end of July.
And this is after the phone call between Biden and Xi Jinping this month, the relationship between them is ready to emerge.
China and the United States have continued to wrestle each other in recent years, and now they have become more and more naked. It is difficult for anyone to get involved like Canada to have a good result.
The Meng Wanzhou incident has undoubtedly reminded Hong Kong not to think that it is alone in the game of great powers, let alone to have both sides.
Hong Kong is China's Hong Kong, and it implements "one country, two systems." Not only is the United States incapable of doing anything legally, it is also true in political reality.
Some people even know that Hong Kong is only a tool for the United States to fight against China, but they are willing to fall, believing that even being a pawn of the United States will bring Hong Kong a brighter future.
From the Meng Wanzhou incident, these people should also be fully awake. The United States does not have the ability to force China to yield, and to cheer for the United States in Hong Kong will not bring a way out for Hong Kong, but can only create a political dead end.
Xi Jinping and Biden speak at the United Nations General Assembly. The rivalry between the two models of China and the United States. The United States brings war. China brings business. Doing a good job in internal affairs is the biggest diplomacy.
