Canada is facing the fallout from its move to arrest Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, last December at the request of its neighbour, the United States. It is now bearing the brunt of China's wrath, as the proverbial grass that gets trampled on when elephants fight - in geopolitical context, the small and medium-sized states that get hurt when major powers jostle. How Ottawa deals with this could be salutary for countries in the East Asian region as rivalry between China and the US intensifies and they get drawn into it. Days after Meng's arrest in Vancouver, two Canadians, a former diplomat and a businessman, were detained in China. Last month, a Canadian convicted of drug smuggling had his 15-year jail term changed to a death sentence after a one-day retrial. These cases have been seen as retaliation for Meng's arrest.

But the Chinese have not stopped there. They appear to be also using their economic muscle as leverage to get the Canadians to release Meng to them. Canola shipments from Canada to China have been taking longer to clear Chinese customs, and permits needed to import genetically modified crops, including canola, have been more difficult to obtain, according to news reports. Canada has also been taken off a list of approved travel destinations for Chinese tourists, reports said, a likely blow to the Canadian tourism industry, which sees more than 600,000 Chinese travellers annually. And negotiations for a free trade deal - for the Canadians a way of diversifying trade away from the US, its biggest trade partner - have stalled. While the quarrel is between China and the US - Washington is seeking Meng's extradition to face charges of fraud related to sanctions against Iran and technological theft - Beijing has trained its guns on Canada. As former Canadian diplomat to China David Mulroney told the BBC, Canada made for a handy scapegoat for China to "kick and whack" for the arrest while it works out a resolution to the trade dispute.