China Meets With The US, Warns Canada About “Grave Consequences” Unless It Releases Huawei CFO

A week ago, Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei, was arrested and now Canada is still holding her. 46-year-old Meng, Huawei’s founder’s daughter, was arrested because she violated a sanction of the US which prohibits on selling its technology to North Korea and Iran. Allegedly, Meng took part in a plot to take advantage of the global banking system for business activities in Iran.

Until Meng gets extradited to the US, she will remain detained in Canada and wait for her bail hearing to take place tomorrow.

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's CFO

On December 9, as reported by NBC News, China summoned Terry Branstad, US ambassador, for a meeting with Le Yucheng, Vice Foreign Minister of China. In the meeting, Le expressed his strong objection to the arrest of Meng.

Moreover, China’s Vice Foreign Minister asked the US to drop its warrant for arresting Huawei’s CFO. Also, Le warned US Ambassador that how China will respond relies on what the US decides to do next.

Le Yucheng, Vice Foreign Minister of China

Besides the meeting with US Ambassador, Le also had a meeting with John McCallum, Canadian ambassador. A day before that, the Vice Foreign Minister stated clearly to the national Xinhua News Agency that Canada will suffer from “grave consequences” unless it releases Meng Wanzhou. He called this arrest warrant vile, unreasonable, and unconscionable.

The United States has been warning its allies against using Huawei devices for their build-out of the 5G network. Last June, Canada received warnings from the US about the national security threats which can arise from Huawei. Currently, Huawei is the largest networking equipment supplier in the world and the second largest smartphone maker across the globe.

Last year, ZTE Corporation, a Chinese multinational company specialized in making telecommunications systems and equipment also violated the same sanction when it sold a $32 million worth of goods to Iran, which included US components without the states’ permission. This violation caused the corporation to pay a total fine of $1.2 billion and take a seven-year suspended penalty from the United States.

It seems like these incidents have offended China so much it can no longer bear.