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China demands clarity from US and Canada over arrest of Huawei CFO ‘for violating US sanctions on Iran’

  • Sabrina Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on December 1, reportedly for violating US trade sanctions against Iran
  • The US is seeking her extradition, and a bail hearing has been set for Friday

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Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer and executive director of Huawei. Photo: Handout

Beijing on Thursday demanded the US and Canada clarify why Ottawa has detained Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei’s chief financial officer Sabrina Meng Wanzhou at the request of the US government.

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Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that both the US and Canadian authorities had yet to clarify their reason for arresting Meng, who is also one of Huawei’s deputy chairpersons and a daughter of its founder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei.

Geng said Beijing had lodged protests with Washington and Ottawa and offered consular assistance to Meng soon after she was detained.

Her arrest in Vancouver raises more doubts about a 90-day truce on trade struck between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on December 1, the day she was detained.

Chinese commerce ministry deflected questions that tied Huawei’s crisis to the US-China trade war.
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“I don’t have information in this regard at the moment,” ministry spokesman Gao Feng said.

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