The Pros And Cons Of Canada's Extradition Treaty With China

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The two groups argued should Canada sign an extradition treaty with China.

Supporters of the treaty stated that signing it would inherently increase human rights and laws, reduce political barriers, and fight against corruption. The group argues that a treaty would encompass terms and concessions that mimic western traditions, in particular Canadian values. More specifically, these values mean a more moral and human rights based approach towards governance and treatment of citizens. Additionally, they stated that such a treaty would increase monitoring of China’s treatment towards individuals considered fugitives. Currently, China uses fox hunting tactics to retrieve criminals, which essential means that Chinese law enforcement cross countries …show more content…

Essentially the Chinese government would need to provided assurances that suspected criminals sent back to China will be given due process or that prisoners wouldn’t be executed.The only way to assure China’s commitment is through monitoring. Monitoring is essential because without it innocent individuals could die in jail. However, monitoring is a challenge in itself. Canada has to act as a watchdog by putting controls in place to keep China in check, but there’s no guarantee that China will abide by the rules. As mentioned above, China currently uses many illegal techniques, such as fox-hunting. So it becomes the question of can Canada change ingrained beliefs about unethical treatment in China? United Nations Committee against Torture has said that in China “the practice of torture and ill-treatment is still deeply entrenched in the criminal-justice system” (Vanderklippe, 2017, para. 20). In one case, Chinese businessman “Peter Zhao” fled to Canada after five days of interrogation by Shuanggui investigators in which he said he was forced to sit in uncomfortable positions for long periods of time and repeatedly ordered to confess to bribery by interrogators who screamed, swore and insulted him. It brought him to a mental breakdown. “I thought it would be better to be dead,” said Mr. Zhao, who spoke on the condition that his real name and other identifying details not be used because he fears for the safety of family still in China. (Vanderklippe, 2017, para. 22). The example of Zhao is one of many cases that occur in China on a daily basis and has been occurring for a countless number of years. Thus, it would be ignorant for Canada to think that by simply signing an extradition treaty the structure and the entire way of thinking in the Chinese legal system would change over

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