OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 1:45 PM PT — Monday, Dec. 10, 2018
China is threatening to take aggressive action against Canada if the country fails to release Huawei’s CFO from custody and obeys a U.S. extradition request.
“For Canada, if they do not correctly handle this matter there will be serious consequences. You asked, what kind of serious consequences would these be? I can tell you in one sentence – it is totally up to Canada.” — Lu Kang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
China’s foreign ministry also said, according to an agreement between China and Canada, the Canadian government should have told the Chinese consulates and embassies Meng was going to be arrested. However, that didn’t happen.
China’s foreign ministry also cited human rights concerns surrounding Meng’s detention.
“During Ms. Meng Wanzhou’s detention, certain measures, including inhumane measures used against her, the provision of medical treatment necessary for her and measures for her basic well-being, were not in place at all,” stated Kang. “We think this is inhumane and has breached her human rights.”
People hold a sign at a Vancouver, British Columbia courthouse prior to the bail hearing for Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer on Monday, December 10, 2018. Meng Wanzhou was detained at the request of the U.S. during a layover at the Vancouver airport on Dec. 1, 2018. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)
Attorneys for Meng cited health concerns during a bail hearing Friday. They said she was taken to a hospital for hypertension treatment after being detained.
46-year-old Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, remains in custody in Vancouver over U.S. allegations she misled multi-nation banks about Huawei’s control of a company operating in Iran. This put the banks at risk of violating U.S. sanctions and incurring the associated penalties.
Recent reports have already detailed two financial institutions, British-based Standard Chartered and HSBC, as allegedly among the banks misled by Huawei.
Huawei reportedly used a third party intermediary, the Hong Kong-based firm Skycom, to channel payments between the tech giant and Iran.
Both banks have faced past scrutiny from global regulators for past money laundering violations and have had federal monitors in place to watch for these types of transactions. Neither bank has been accused of wrongdoing at this time.
In the meantime, while China has denounced the arrest, it hasn’t linked it to trade talks with the U.S. as experts say it doesn’t want to undermine the prospects for a trade deal.
On Sunday, White House officials said Meng’s arrest and extradition request was “solely a law enforcement matter, “and would not derail the talks with China.
While China’s foreign ministry has been vocal on the arrest, the Commerce Ministry, who is engaged in the trade talks, has yet to comment on the situation.
