Jeffrey Sachs, American economist and director of the Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development, slammed the United States for asking Canada to arrest Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, saying that it is a “shocking break with practice”.
The scholar made the rebuke in an editorial, titled “The United States, not China, is the real threat to international rule of law”, which was published by the Canadian newspaper “The Globe and Mail” on Wednesday.
Citing U.S. companies including Bank of America and PayPal, which were allegedly claimed to have broken law, Sachs said that none of their managers were grabbed off a plane and put into custody.
If the United States wants to start the practice of arresting executives for their companies’ alleged malpractice, it should start at home to “avoid hypocrisy”, he said.
Sachs noted that the economic war U.S. President Donald Trump has started on the Chinese business community is only geopolitical and has nothing to do with upholding the international rule of law.
Meng was arrested by the Canadian authorities at the request from the United States when she was transferring flight in Canada on December 1.
The United States accused her of misleading multinational banks about Huawei’s control of a company operating in Iran, allegedly violating U.S. sanctions.
Meng was granted bail after hearings concluded in Vancouver on Tuesday afternoon. She denied all the charges brought by the United States during the hearings.
