China summons Canada envoy over detained Huawei executive

BEIJING: China on Saturday summoned the Canadian ambassador over the “unconscionable and vile” detention of telecom giant Huawei’s chief financial officer in Vancouver, state media reported, in Beijing’s latest angry response to the hot-button case.

Meng Wanzhou has been held since December 1 in Canada on an American extradition request and faces US fraud charges related to sanctions-breaking business dealings with Iran.

The 46-year-old executive was arrested in Vancouver while changing planes, ratcheting up tensions between the US and China just as the countries’ leaders agreed to a truce in their trade war. In a statement cited by official news agency Xinhua, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said Meng’s detention was a “severe violation” of her rights and interests as a Chinese citizen.

“Such a move ignores the law and is unreasonable, unconscionable, and vile in nature,” the news agency quoted Le as saying in the statement. Le summoned Canadian ambassador John McCallum in protest and urged Ottawa to release Meng immediately or face “grave consequences that the Canadian side should be held accountable for”, Xinhua said.