Politicized law enforcement Washington's predilection

When US State Department spokesman Robert Palladino remarked that the US condemns "all forms of arbitrary detention" on Tuesday, he was commenting on reports that two Canadians have been detained in China.

It would have been welcome and proper if that remark had applied to the detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou by the Canadian authorities at Washington's request. However, it seems the condemnation Palladino conveyed was directed solely at Beijing.

His words were more revealing of how Washington operates rather than Beijing. Washington naturally assumes the compulsory measures Beijing has taken are politically motivated - an expedient move on Beijing's part to retaliate against Ottawa - since that is how it operates.