- Nineteen prisoners use cutlery to break out of cells at Winchester prison
- France wants progress in Ukraine before Russia returns to G7
- Italy president begins talks to seek way out of government crisis
- Italian PM expected to resign as political chaos deepens
- Russia says US cruise missile test ‘regrettable’
- Kremlin - No date set for Normandy talks on Ukraine despite Macron meeting
- Egypt court hands out 6 death sentences on terror charges
- Putin says Russian nuclear explosion poses no threat
- Russian panel eyes alleged foreign interference in protests
- Gran Canaria wildfire triggers evacuation of thousands of people
- PM Johnson calls on Germany and France to compromise on Brexit
- Sudan's ex-president Bashir arrives at corruption trial
TEHRAN, Jan 27-In an unprecedented move, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday said he had fired his ambassador to China, who prompted a political furor with comments about Huawei’s high-profile extradition case.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -John McCallum had embarrassed Trudeau’s Liberal government by saying Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou could make a strong argument against being sent to the United States.
Opposition legislators and former ambassadors accused McCallum of unacceptable political interference in an affair which has badly damaged relations between Canada and China.
Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, was arrested in Vancouver last month over alleged violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran.
China subsequently detained two Canadian citizens on national security grounds. A Chinese court later retried a Canadian man who had been jailed for drugs smuggling and sentenced him to death.
“Last night I asked for and accepted John McCallum’s resignation as Canada’s ambassador to China,” Trudeau said in a statement that did not explain his reasons.
Veteran diplomats and experts told Reuters it was the first time a Canadian ambassador had ever been officially fired.
Trudeau said as recently as Thursday that he had no plans to replace McCallum, who apologized the same day for his remarks earlier in the week.
But the Toronto Star newspaper on Friday quoted the envoy as saying that if Washington dropped the extradition request “that would be great for Canada”. McCallum, 68, a long-time former Liberal cabinet minister, is not a trained diplomat.
Brock University professor Charles Burton, a former Canadian diplomat who had served two postings in China, said McCallum’s comments on Meng possibly avoiding extradition had signaled to Beijing that its hard line tactics were working.
Source:Reuters
Your Comment