China slams U.S., Canada for 'political farce' over Huawei CFO case

The United States and Canada have been echoing each other and staged a "political farce" over the incident of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer (CFO) of China's telecom giant Huawei, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing on Friday.

Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou leaves her family home in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, May 8, 2019. [Photo: Reuters via VCG/Lindsey Wasson]

Meng was arrested on December 1, 2018, at Vancouver International Airport at the request of the U.S., which is seeking her extradition on fraud charges. Both Meng and Huawei have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Geng accused the U.S. of fabricating the incident of Meng and mobilizing state force to crack down on Chinese high-tech companies, adding that Canada has played a "very disgraceful role" in the process.

His remarks come after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Thursday that American officials were trying to help two Canadians held by China get released.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed in May that two detained Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, had been formally arrested by Chinese authorities. Kovrig was arrested on charges of gathering state secrets and intelligence, and Spavor on charges of stealing secrets and illegally providing them to overseas forces.

Geng said the incident of Meng and the individual cases of the two Canadians are completely different in nature.

"The Meng Wanzhou incident is a serious political incident, whereas Kovrig and Spavor were arrested in accordance with law on suspicion of endangering China's national security," he stressed.

Noting that China is a country under the rule of law, Geng said Chinese judicial authorities handle cases independently in accordance with law and guarantee legitimate rights of the Canadian citizens.

"The cases concerning the Canadian citizens have nothing to do with the U.S.," he said. "So the U.S. is not entitled to make irresponsible remarks about it."

Beijing strongly urges "certain country" to respect China's judicial sovereignty and stop making irresponsible comments and exercising "double standards" on legal matters, the spokesperson said.