Today, readers are discussing Nathan VanderKlippe’s story on China issuing a stern rebuke to Trudeau after the prime minister accused Beijing of arbitrarily enforcing its laws. The country has sentenced Canadian citizen Robert Schellenberg to death for organized international drug trafficking. China’s foreign ministry has warned its citizens about travel to Canada and Canadian Global Affairs is encouraging Canadians to exercise a high degree of caution in China.

Open this photo in gallery A still image taken from CCTV video shows Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg in court, where he was sentenced with a death penalty for drug smuggling, in Dalian, Liaoning province, China Jan. 14, 2019. HANDOUT/Reuters

This is Canada’s Rip Van Winkle story. The meaning and moral of Washington Irving’s story is quite accurately reflected in our present situation. Canadians have been asleep for the last 20 years and we’ve now awoken to find that the world we thought we knew has changed, and not all for the good.

We’ve actually been quite lucky to have had the Meng situation occur as it has. We were asleep to the existential danger that China is and now we are waking to it. We should be thankful for the the way the Chinese are handling this situation. Each nasty jolt from China prods us further to a full sense of alertness. We might have slid back to sleep, but China’s aggression and bizarrely lousy PR is affecting us just like the ‘snooze’ feature on an alarm. Who knows how this will turn out, but I’m thankful that we will be awake for it.

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Miserable leadership remains Canada’s greatest ongoing danger here. Our weak leaders are too likely to turn to craven accommodation. Let’s see what happens on the Huawei decision. - trishee1

I’m pleased that finally Canadians see China’s true colours. Now we can put an end to this ridiculous talk of “free trade” with a government controlled economy, and keep Chinese companies out of our vital infrastructure. - MG59

To play a policeman for other countries will be a costly mistake for Canada. Don’t we have enough domestic problems to solve? - j7019

The accused drug smuggler has a prior history of drug trafficking in Canada and the Chinese apparently have considerable evidence. The real question is about the change of sentence from 15 years to death when the Canadian tried to appeal his sentence and the way he was treated at court. - zuglo9

This is a much bigger issue. It’s not just about the human rights issues of China but also about the economic and trade cheating. The developed world has turned a blind eye to this because of the money on the line for multinationals, and the cheap goods artificially tempered inflation. One country alone can not take a stand, but a unified voice by the developed world can have a tremendous impact. The vast majority of the world’s innovation and consumption still comes from North America and Europe. I love what Trump is doing in this regard. China needs the West more than the West needs China. - HuHu1

Interesting article. I’m sure from the Chinese perspective the detention of Huawei’s CFO is without basis, and I’m also sure that anyone from North America who goes to China to smuggle drugs is taking a huge risk. The world used to work behind the scenes to smooth out these wrinkles so most people never heard about them. It seems we have lost the fine art of diplomacy and now the wrinkles are there for all to see. Some things are best left unsaid, and sometimes a blind eye is to everyone’s advantage. There are no Boy Scouts in all of this. - M_G

The best course of action at this point is for the Canadian authorities to hand Ms. Wanzhou over to the U.S. Then we can sit back and let the flame-throwing between China and the U.S begin. -kpare

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I just finished rerouting a trip to avoid landing in Hong Kong using Cathay. Take the money right out of their mouths. - Candace248

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China is scared of any criticism. The police state that stifles any form of dissent, that has a massive state-run firewall to prevent its people for accessing Google or Twitter. This a country that has concentration camps with millions of Uyghurs being thought processed. This is a country that has devastated the environment and has no respect for animals. China thinks they have earned global respectability because they have economic freedom. China is nothing but a dictatorship, a police state. - TorontoGooner

I will in no way support the Chinese police state. But this is yet another file that Trudeau has failed at. Remember “Canada is back?” Sure, back to irrelevancy. From foreign affairs to the domestic agenda, nothing but failure. Sunny ways, indeed. - ChrisL7

What else readers are discussing today:

No longer a wild conspiracy theory: The possibility of Trump as Russian agent

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Open this photo in gallery In this file photo taken on July 16, 2018, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands ahead a meeting in Helsinki. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

Finally, Americans are beginning to wake up to what has been painfully clear to many outside the U.S. for some time: Trump is firmly in the hand of Putin, helping him do his bidding. Clinton was correct after all. It is a stolen presidency. What else is Trump going to hand over to the Russians? The GOP has aided and abetted Trump and are equally responsible, and the U.S. system is painfully slow and inadequate to deal with this cancer. - SickDog1

If Mueller does not produce some pretty convincing evidence before the next election the Democrats will have a major problem. Two years have come and gone. - BC Thoughts

In the words of the great Sherlock Holmes, “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” It makes my brain hurt, but how terrible if it were to be true. - Jeet09

Russian agent? Give me a break. You liberals just won’t stop will you? Hillary Clinton lost fair and square, okay? Stop the Russian nonsense. - Mike5

Trump had virtually no experience in many of the areas that he was tasked with overseeing. As such, it was contingent upon him to take the counsel and rely upon those with the expertise such as the four star generals. For Trump to say he knows more about military affairs than generals that have spent four decades defending their country is beyond laughable. You can’t run the U.S. Government like a sole proprietorship and fire people willy-nilly every time they disagree with you. The White House is so messed up now it would be a perfect time for enemies of the U.S. to strike. I certainly hope they don’t take that opportunity but if they do, it will be Trump’s fault entirely. He spun a yarn about bringing jobs back to America and yet we see General Motors closing plants down and moving those jobs to Mexico. He did nothing about that. He is nothing but a blowhard. I can’t imagine the type of people that supported him in the last election. Trump likes to take credit for everything good and blames everyone else (Obama, Clinton, whomever) for the bad outcomes. Hopefully he will be going down the road in 2020 and will prove to have been nothing but a stain on the great American experiment. - The Advocat

It was never that wild of a theory. At every turn Trump has done what a compromised person would do. - Exedus

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I wonder how long it will take his base to see him for the traitor he is. Judging from comments below, not anytime soon. - Malcolm09

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