13 December 2018 - Meng Wanzhou
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I thought China operated on the principle that a friend cannot show
respect, only an underling. Elect a recalcitrant leader in Taiwan or
give a Nobel prize to a Chinese dissident, and China does not spare
the rod or spoil the child. Now I see that it is more a “there can
be only one” attitude. If another country does a China-like thing,
such as asking Canada to arrest Meng Wanzhou—treating an important
Chinese the way China treats everybody who doesn’t obey—then China
turns up the hypocrisy to 11.
clue:
It’s a remarkably forceful legal action, even by American standards.
Normally a large corporation is given leeway, and gets off with a
fine. Compare the case of ZTE, severely punished as a corporation
only after repeated flagrant transgressions (of rudely aggressive
American sanctions); no individuals were arrested.
take oh take this clue away