Press release
11 December 2018
Canada must release Huawei CFO Meng and not kowtow to the United States
Citizens International strongly condemns the arrest and detention of the Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou by the Canadian authorities at the request of the United States. Her detention is cruel, uncivilized and illegal. We demand that the Canadian government release her immediately.
She is alleged to have covered up her company’s links to a firm that tried to sell equipment to Iran despite United States sanctions. Chinese companies trading with Iran despite US sanctions are not committing any offence. US sanctions on Iran cannot have extra-territorial application for that would be in violation of the sovereignty of the nation trading with Iran.
Only the United Nations Security Council, under Article 42 of the UN Charter, has authority to impose economic sanctions having extraterritorial application. Before doing so, it must determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression. Hence, no member state can, on its own accord, impose sanctions which would have extraterritorial effect. Such sanctions would be illegal under international law.
If the Canadian government extradites Meng to the US, it would be compromising its sovereignty and honour, and behaving like a banana republic. It would also be an accomplice to a criminal act committed by the US.
China must strongly resist the bullying Mafia tactics of the US government and ensure that Meng is not extradited to the US. The Chinese people must launch a boycott of US products and services. The unlawful detention of Meng is a serious insult to the dignity and honour of this great Asian nation. Modern China is not the China during the opium war when the imperialist nations could bully and impose their will on it. It is a major world power today.
The role of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, and its dominance over the international financial system, enable the US to enforce its extraterritorial sanctions on other states. There are moves to counter the US dollar imperialism. China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela and some other states have indicated that they would use currencies other than the dollar to conduct trade among themselves. This initiative, if implemented in trade between the major economies, would seriously weaken the extra territorial impact of the US sanctions.
Malaysian companies and individuals should increasingly use national currencies in their business transactions. Our financial regulatory authorities should cooperate with others in Russia, China and other countries to delink from the US-dominated international financial organisations, and free the world from dollar imperialism.
We call on the Malaysian government to condemn the detention of Meng and demand that she be released immediately.
S.M. Mohamed Idris
Chairman,
Citizens International
