America’s Kidnapping of Chinese Citizens Is under Which Law?
Published in Sina
(China) on 30 October 2010
by Yu Xiaodong (link to original)
(China) on 30 October 2010
by Yu Xiaodong (link to original)
Translated from
by Meghan McGrath.
Edited by Gillian Palmer.
According to recent reports, two Chinese citizens in Hungary will be extradited by the U.S. Secret Service to the United States within the next few days.
Being neither a legal expert or privy to inside information, I cannot interpret how these two Chinese citizens have provoked the FBI, but the U.S. has a persistent reputation of treating other countries’ citizens without respect. By the pattern and extent of America’s actions, clearly they only look after their own needs, likes and dislikes.
When looking up “American abduction” in Google or Baidu, the first search result is an Iranian scientist, abducted by the U.S., who denies any involvement with nuclear weapon research. In 2009, this scientist was unaccounted for in Saudi Arabia. This came at a crucial moment when the United States was making a big fuss about the Iranian nuclear weapon issue, and it was very concerning. Russia recently accused the U.S. of kidnapping a Russian citizen in Liberia over an alleged drug-trafficking crime; the U.S. responded that they followed all proper legal procedures.
One event in 2007 really caused a sensation throughout the world. That year, a high-level lawyer in the U.S. government told the Court of Appeals in London that U.S. intelligence agencies are allowed to “kidnap” British citizens who are wanted for crimes in the U.S. because the U.S. Supreme Court approved a new interpretation of the law to allow such actions. Prior to this, many countries were used to the United States imposing its will over others, as well as the United States using its own ethical standards to judge others’ rights and wrongs. Even the United States’ domestic laws often encroach upon international laws and practices, leaving the weak with no way out and allies like the British with a lump in their throat.
In fact, since World War II, when the United States was flourishing as “a leader of the free world,” their foreign operations have always found ways to justify their means. Anyone who opposes the will of the United States, so long as they can win, it will be by the same so-called lawful methods. Former President of Panama Manuel Noriega should be considered one of the highest-ranking military personnel. After being trained by U.S. military, he tried to overthrow the ruling power in Panama and began to compete with his teacher, all while trying to recover control of the Panama Canal. Thus, with drug trafficking, human rights violations and other charges, in the end, it was not so secret that the Secret Service kidnapped him, going in with tens of thousands of troops in stealth aircrafts and other high-tech weapons against only a little more than 5,000 regular troops in Panama. This author reckons this should be considered the largest public capture in human history. Now the former president has been extradited to France for a trial on other offenses.
Everyone has seen the sternness of American law enforcement through Hollywood blockbusters. We do not know at all the extent of what kind of operations have gone on in the last half century, or, in the end, how many people were actually guilty of crimes, but the United States is good at quite a few different types of operations. I can infer quite a few. Hereto, now I will recite three names: Mohammad Mosaddegh was the elected Prime Minister of Iran, whose democratic government was overthrown by U.S. and British intelligence agencies; after Mohammad Reza Shah came into power, the U.S. supported his dictatorship in order to better suit their own needs. Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, Guatemala’s elected president, was overthrown by the U.S. CIA in order to protect U.S. land interests in Guatemala. The U.S. then in turn supported the military government during a period of 40 years that spawned numerous humanitarian disasters; it is said that there were more than 20 million deaths. Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first elected Prime Minister, was overthrown by a coup endorsed by the CIA, which eventually led to the world-renowned, cruel, 30-year dictatorship of Mobutu....
Being neither a legal expert or privy to inside information, I cannot interpret how these two Chinese citizens have provoked the FBI, but the U.S. has a persistent reputation of treating other countries’ citizens without respect. By the pattern and extent of America’s actions, clearly they only look after their own needs, likes and dislikes.
When looking up “American abduction” in Google or Baidu, the first search result is an Iranian scientist, abducted by the U.S., who denies any involvement with nuclear weapon research. In 2009, this scientist was unaccounted for in Saudi Arabia. This came at a crucial moment when the United States was making a big fuss about the Iranian nuclear weapon issue, and it was very concerning. Russia recently accused the U.S. of kidnapping a Russian citizen in Liberia over an alleged drug-trafficking crime; the U.S. responded that they followed all proper legal procedures.
One event in 2007 really caused a sensation throughout the world. That year, a high-level lawyer in the U.S. government told the Court of Appeals in London that U.S. intelligence agencies are allowed to “kidnap” British citizens who are wanted for crimes in the U.S. because the U.S. Supreme Court approved a new interpretation of the law to allow such actions. Prior to this, many countries were used to the United States imposing its will over others, as well as the United States using its own ethical standards to judge others’ rights and wrongs. Even the United States’ domestic laws often encroach upon international laws and practices, leaving the weak with no way out and allies like the British with a lump in their throat.
In fact, since World War II, when the United States was flourishing as “a leader of the free world,” their foreign operations have always found ways to justify their means. Anyone who opposes the will of the United States, so long as they can win, it will be by the same so-called lawful methods. Former President of Panama Manuel Noriega should be considered one of the highest-ranking military personnel. After being trained by U.S. military, he tried to overthrow the ruling power in Panama and began to compete with his teacher, all while trying to recover control of the Panama Canal. Thus, with drug trafficking, human rights violations and other charges, in the end, it was not so secret that the Secret Service kidnapped him, going in with tens of thousands of troops in stealth aircrafts and other high-tech weapons against only a little more than 5,000 regular troops in Panama. This author reckons this should be considered the largest public capture in human history. Now the former president has been extradited to France for a trial on other offenses.
Everyone has seen the sternness of American law enforcement through Hollywood blockbusters. We do not know at all the extent of what kind of operations have gone on in the last half century, or, in the end, how many people were actually guilty of crimes, but the United States is good at quite a few different types of operations. I can infer quite a few. Hereto, now I will recite three names: Mohammad Mosaddegh was the elected Prime Minister of Iran, whose democratic government was overthrown by U.S. and British intelligence agencies; after Mohammad Reza Shah came into power, the U.S. supported his dictatorship in order to better suit their own needs. Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, Guatemala’s elected president, was overthrown by the U.S. CIA in order to protect U.S. land interests in Guatemala. The U.S. then in turn supported the military government during a period of 40 years that spawned numerous humanitarian disasters; it is said that there were more than 20 million deaths. Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first elected Prime Minister, was overthrown by a coup endorsed by the CIA, which eventually led to the world-renowned, cruel, 30-year dictatorship of Mobutu....