Huawei Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, detained in Canada on extradition charges to the United States. China condemns the arrest and urges both Canada and United States for immediate release.
Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company’s founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested on December 1 , and a bail hearing has been scheduled for Friday. In a statement, Huawei said Meng was arrested while transferring between flights in Canada, and is facing an “unspecific accusation”.
Chinese embassy said Meng has committed no crime and that the arrest is a violation of her human rights; China urges both Canada and United States to “immediately correct the wrongdoing”.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said officials have been contacted both in the U.S. and Canada to demand Meng’s release. Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the ministry, said her detention needed to be explained, and both countries had to “effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of the person concerned.”
Huawei, one of the world’s largest telecoms equipment and services providers has been tightly constrained in the US by worries it could undermine local competitors and that its phones and networking equipment, used widely in other countries
On Wednesday, BT, the UK telecoms group, confirmed that it was in the process of removing Huawei equipment from the key parts of its 3G and 4G networks, as part of an existing internal policy not to have the Chinese company at the centre of its infrastructure.
Governments in New Zealand and Australia have also moved to block the use of Huawei’s equipment in future 5G networks.
In China, online users and commentators reacted angrily to the news of Meng’s arrest. The Canadian embassy’s Weibo page was bombarded with posts criticising its role in the incident.
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said that his government had played no role in Meng’s arrest.
“I can assure everyone that we are a country [with] an independent judiciary,” Trudeau told a technology conference in Montreal. “And they took this decision without any political involvement or interference.”
>Juthy Saha
China Demands Release of Huawei CFO Arrested in Canada
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