China has “strongly urges” the country Canada to immediately release Huawei chief financial officer (CFO) Meng Wanzhou and earnestly protect their lawful and legitimate rights, and warned Canada that otherwise, it might face consequences.
Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei’s founder, was arrested in Canada on December 1 and faces extradition to the United States over the charges of liking Huawei to another firm which support its sell to Iran country despite of the US sanctions.
If Wanzhou faces extradition to the US, she might get a maximum jail sentence of about 30 years for each of the charges raised on her. The Canadian apex court had a hearing on Friday, where they didn’t reach up to any conclusion and adjourned the hearing until Monday.
In a statement presented, China’s foreign minister said the vice foreign minister Le Yucheng has issued a statement, a warning statement, to Canada’s ambassador in Beijing over to release immediately Wanzhou and told them to lodge a “strong protest”.
Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland’s spokesperson Adam Austen on Saturday said that there is “nothing to add beyond what the Minister said yesterday”.
According to news reports, Freeland said on Friday, the relationship with China is much important and also valued, and Canadian ambassador in Beijing gave an assurance to China that a consular will be provided to Wanzhou.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the arrest has “ignore the law and was unreasonable”, and was “extremely nasty”. He further said, “China strongly urges the Canadian side to immediately release the detained person, and earnestly protect their lawful, legitimate rights, otherwise Canada must accept full responsibility for the serious consequences caused.”
Former Canadian ambassador to China, David Mulroney on Friday, said, “There will probably be a deep freeze with the Chinese in high-level visits and exchanges.” Mulroney said, “The ability to talk about free trade will be put in the ice box for a while. But we’re going to have to live with that. That’s the price of dealing with a country like China.”
In an editorial, the ruling Communist Party’s official said, “Only if the Canadian side corrects its mistake and immediately stops infringing upon the lawful, legitimate rights of a Chinese citizen and gives a proper accounting to the Chinese people can it avoid paying a heavy price for this.”
A US state department official said, “We are tracking the developments of this case and refer you to the filings in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.”
A Huawei spokesperson on Friday, said the Huawei company has “every confidence that the Canadian and U.S. legal systems will reach the right conclusion”.