The Huawei CFO and daughter of the company’s founder Ren Zhengfei was arrested in December 2018 at the instigation of the US authorities in Vancouver, Canada.
(Photo: Reuters)
new York Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who has been stuck in Canada for years, can return to China after an agreement with the US authorities. The US government withdrew its extradition request on Friday, and a Canadian court then lifted all bail requirements. “Meng Wanzhou is free to leave Canada,” said the Canadian Department of Justice.
The top manager of the Chinese network supplier and smartphone provider had entered into a deal with the US Department of Justice a few hours earlier. The process is initially to be put on hold until December 1, 2022 and then discontinued if Meng adheres to the terms of the agreement. Meng undertook, among other things, not to contradict the presentation of individual facts by the US side. Meng had previously declared himself innocent again in court.
Almost three years after their arrest in China, Canadian businessmen Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were released and flown back to their homeland. The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Saturday night.
Since the two Canadians had been taken into custody in Canada in December 2018 almost immediately after Meng’s arrest, Beijing was accused of being a return carriage and “hostage diplomacy”. Since then, the matter has weighed heavily on relations between the two countries.
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The Huawei CFO Meng – daughter of the company’s founder Ren Zhengfei – was arrested in December 2018 at the instigation of the US authorities in Vancouver, Canada. The US government accused the top manager of the Chinese network equipment supplier and smartphone provider, among other things, of circumventing the sanctions against Iran. Meng always protested her innocence and accused the authorities of violating her rights during the arrest. In Beijing, the trial was condemned as part of the then US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.
Shortly afterwards, the Chinese authorities arrested the two Canadian businessmen. He was found guilty of espionage and obtaining state secrets and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Canada and other states protested against what they considered to be a politically motivated trial and the imprisonment. The former diplomat Kovrig also had to answer to court in China on allegations of espionage. In the end, however, there was no longer any judgment against him.
Relations between the Beijing and Ottawa governments were severely damaged by the arrests of Meng and the two Canadians. For example, China imposed import restrictions on various export goods from Canada. At least three alleged Canadian drug smugglers have also been sentenced to death in the People’s Republic. China always rejected any connection between the proceedings against the Canadians and Meng’s arrest.
Specifically, Meng was accused of misrepresenting the relationship between Huawei and tech company Skycom in a presentation for UK bank HSBC in 2013, which put the bank at risk of violating US sanctions against Iran. Huawei and Meng deny this. Earlier talks about an agreement with the prosecutors failed, according to US media reports, among other things because Meng did not want to admit any wrongdoing.
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