Canada doing devil’s dirty deeds over Huawei arrest: China

China’s foreign ministry has called in the US ambassador to lodge a “strong protest” over Canada’s arrest of a top Huawei executive.

Arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

China has warned Canada against following Australia and New ­Zealand by banning tech giant ­Huawei from its 5G network, while vowing “serious consequences” if it does not release a top ­Huawei executive.

On its website yesterday the China Daily newspaper said Aust­ralia and New Zealand had made their decisions to restrict the use of Huawei technology under ­pressure from the US as a result of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing agreement between the US, ­Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Under the headline “Canada should not let US dictate its polit­ics”, the ­editorial said the Trudeau government had indicated it would not “let politics slip into decisio­ns”. “Unfortunately, that is what it is now doing,” it said of the arrest of Huawei chief financial office­r Meng Wanzhou.

China’s foreign ministry has called in the US ambassador to lodge a “strong protest” over the arrest.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng told ambassador Terry Branstad that the US had made an “unreasonable demand” on Canada to detain Ms Meng while she was passing through Vancouver, China’s foreign ministry says.

“The actions of the US seriously violated the lawful and legitimate rights of the Chinese citizen, and by their nature were extremely nasty,” Mr Le told Mr Branstad, comments similar to those he made to Canada’s ambassador the night before.

China strongly urges the US to pay attention to China’s solemn and just position, and withdraw the arrest warrant on Ms Meng, Mr Le added. “China will respond further depending on US actions,” he said, without elaborating.

Mr Le also told the Canadian ambassador on Saturday that there would be severe consequences if it did not immediately release Ms Meng.

The editorial in the China Daily, which attacked the US as a “devil” now doing “dirty deeds”, came after Beijing summoned Canada’s ambassador to China, John McCallum, to ­deliver a warning to Canada if Ms Meng, 46, was not released.

The China Daily said the US sought to limit the role of the ­Chinese telecommunications and mobile phone giant in the global market to “reserve a spot” for US companies, despite Huawei’s leading edge in developing 5G technology.

“The US has been pressuring the other ‘Five Eyes’ to limit the use of Huawei technology,” it said.

But Canada’s detention last week of Ms Meng — the daughter of the founder of Huawei, who is also its chief financial officer and deputy chairwoman — has ­provoked a new level of outrage from China over the weekend. “The ­latest move targeting Huawei is nasty,” the China Daily said.

It is understood that the ­Huawei case was mentioned in passing in high-level talks in ­Beijing on Friday led by former prime minister John Howard.

In public remarks before a meeting with China’s most senior diplomat, Politburo member Yang Jiechi, Australia and China had agreed that their relationship was a strong one that would always have some differences.

Mr Howard said both sides had agreed to look at ways of working through any future differences.

The smiling photo of Mr Howard meeting Mr Yang at Zhongnanhai, the official residence of the Chinese leadership in Beijing, was in stark contrast to the string of increasingly angry comments on the weekend from the Chinese Department of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese media, attacking Canada for doing America’s work.

“It is to be hoped that Canada will not simply hold a candle while the devil does its dirty deeds,” the China Daily said. “It risks resulting in serious consequences and Canada will have to bear the responsibility.”

Ms Meng was arrested by ­Canadian police on December 1 as she transited through Vancouver airport on a trip from Hong Kong to Mexico.

The move, which came as ­Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were reaching a truce on their trade war in a dinner in Argentina, has angered China and raised new questions about whether the trade talks will have any chance of success within its 90-day framework.

Mr McCallum was told that China regarded Ms Meng’s arrest as a “severe violation” of her rights.

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Yucheng described Ms Meng’s arrest as unlawful, ­“unconscionable and vile”.

China’s fury over the arrest was also made clear in an editorial in the official Xinhua news agency describing Canada’s action as “lawless, unreasonable and callou­s”. The arrest had caused ­“serious damage” to its relations with China.

The editorial also said Canada faced “serious consequences” unless it released Ms Meng, expressing anger that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau knew of her impending arrest ahead of time and did not inform China.

Ms Meng was detained at the request of the US Department of Justice, which has been investig­ating Huawei for potential violation of US sanctions in trading with Iran. China is angry at what it sees as the US continuing to ­extend the reach of its law beyond its borders.

“The US has always put its domestic law above the inter­national one,” Xinhua said in its opinion piece on the arrest.

“Its ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ has often drawn criticism from the international community. Yet ­despite all of this, Canada still chose to ignore international rules and obey the United States, ­paying the bill for America’s bullying actions.”

Xinhua said Canada had treated Ms Meng as a “dangerous criminal”, despite the fact that she had not been on trial.

Xinhua said Ms Meng had ­severe health issues including high blood pressure and sleeping disorders, and was still in recovery from neck surgery she had in May.

— Additional reporting: Reuters