Canada's unreasonable arrest of Meng Wanzhou 'a serious political incident': Ambassador
Updated 11:35, 07-Aug-2020
CGTN
01:46

The arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou by the Canadian authorities at the United States' request is clearly a serious political incident, said Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu during an interview with CCTV on Thursday.

Meng, a Chinese citizen, was detained when transferring flights in Vancouver on December 1, 2018. U.S. authorities accuse her of bank fraud for misleading HSBC about Huawei's relationship with a company operating in Iran and putting HSBC at risk of fines and penalties for breaking U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

Both Meng and Huawei have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but Meng remains on bail and has not been freed.

"We have said from the beginning that this is a serious political incident orchestrated by the United States to suppress Huawei and other Chinese high-tech companies," Cong reiterated.

He said, "Canada has an inescapable responsibility" in the case, as it was the one who arrested Meng. Canada is the accomplice, while the U.S. is the culprit, he said.

China has continuously urged Canada to have a clear understanding of the situation, seriously reflect on it, correct its mistakes, and release Meng as soon as possible so that she can safely return to the motherland, Cong said.