Huawei’s Controversy; Beijing Summons Washington’s Ambassador
China has summoned the US ambassador in Beijing to protest about the detention of a senior Huawei executive in Canada after US law enforcement officials issued a warrant for her arrest last week.
China has summoned the US ambassador in Beijing to protest about the detention of a senior Huawei executive in Canada after US law enforcement officials issued a warrant for her arrest last week.
The official Xinhua news agency said the vice-foreign minister, Le Yucheng, had “lodged solemn representations and strong protests” with the ambassador, Terry Branstad, against the detention of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the Chinese technology firm.
Meng was detained last week while changing planes in Vancouver, Canada, with prosecutors saying she had committed fraud by lying about links between Huawei and a shell company used to sell telecommunications equipment to Iran in breach of US sanctions, according to the Guardian.
The Xinhua report quoted Le as calling Meng’s detention “extremely egregious”, demanding the US cancel the order for her arrest and saying China would take further steps based on Washington’s response.
The statement came after the summoning of the Canadian ambassador, John McCallum, on Saturday over Meng’s detention and a similar protest warning of “grave consequences” if she were not released.
Meng is the daughter of the company’s founder and a former officer in the Chinese military. If she is extradited to the United States and convicted, she may be sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Meng is arrested while tensions of trade war between the Republic of China and US de-escalated after Trump and Xi Jinping met on the sideline of G-20 summit in Argentina.
