As Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou enters Chinese airspace, foreign ministry slams ‘arbitrary detention’
- Foreign ministry lashes out over ‘political persecution’ based on ‘purely fabricated’ fraud accusations
- The deal to free Meng appears to have resulted in China releasing detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who are also flying home
Shortly after Meng’s flight entered Chinese airspace, state broadcaster CCTV quoted foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying as saying that China’s position on the Meng Wanzhou incident has been “consistent and clear”.
“Facts have already fully proved that this is an incident of political persecution against a Chinese citizen, with the purpose of suppressing China’s hi-tech enterprise,” Hua was quoted as saying.
“The fraud accusations against Meng are purely fabricated with HSBC, which the US refers to as a ‘victim’, offering sufficient documents to prove Meng’s innocence. The actions of the United States and Canada [on Meng] are typical arbitrary detentions.”
Hua didn’t mention the two Canadians.
Meng’s chartered Air China flight from Vancouver, CA552, was the only international arrival scheduled for Shenzhen Baoan airport on Saturday, according to the information board in a largely deserted arrivals hall.
Her plane was expected to land at 9.50pm local time, according to the board, but the schedule could change, a member of the ground crew told the Post, as it was not a regular, scheduled flight.
