In his recent article
“Averting World Conflict with China” Ron Unz has come up with an
intriguing suggestion for the Chinese government to turn the tables on
the December 1st arrest of Meng Wanzhou in Canada. Canada
detained Mrs. Meng, CFO of the world’s largest telecoms equipment
manufacturer Huawei, at the request of the United States so she could be
extradited to New York to face charges that she and her company had
violated U.S. sanctions on Iran. The sanctions in question had been
imposed unilaterally by Washington and it is widely believed that the
Trump Administration is sending a signal that when the ban on purchasing
oil from Iran comes into full effect in May there will be no excuses
accepted from any country that is unwilling to comply with the U.S.
government’s demands. Washington will exercise universal jurisdiction
over those who violate its sanctions, meaning that foreign officials and
heads of corporations that continue to deal with Iran can be arrested
when traveling internationally and will be extradited to be tried in
American courts.
There
is, of course, a considerable downside to arresting a top executive of a
leading foreign corporation from a country that is a major U.S. trading
partner and which also, inter alia, holds a considerable portion of the
U.S. national debt. Ron Unz has correctly noted the “…extraordinary
gravity of this international incident and its potential for altering
the course of world history.” One might add that Washington’s demands
that other nations adhere to its sanctions on third countries opens up a
Pandora’s box whereby no traveling executives will be considered safe
from legal consequences when they do not adhere to policies being
promoted by the United States. Unz cites Columbia’s Jeffrey Sachs as describing it
as “almost a U.S. declaration of war on China’s business community.”
If seizing and extraditing businessmen becomes the new normal those
countries most affected will inevitably retaliate in kind. China has
already detained two traveling Canadians to pressure Ottawa to release
Mrs. Meng. Beijing is also contemplating some immediate retaliatory
steps against Washington to include American companies operating in
China if she is extradited to the U.S...........http://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/lets-boycott-israel-and-its-friends/
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