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Huawei CFO's extradition case ‘politically motivated’: Commentator

Saturday, 02 March 2019 2:38 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 02 March 2019 2:43 PM ]

This TV image provided by CTV to AFP shows Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou as she exits the court registry following the bail hearing at British Columbia Superior Courts in Vancouver, British Columbia on December 11, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

There is a clear political motive behind the United States’ extradition request of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, says a commentator, adding that Washington has shown double standards in the case.

The comments came after China said it “utterly opposes” the decision made by the Canadian government to approve extradition proceedings against Meng, three months after she was detained in Canada on a United States arrest warrant.

“US has clearly made a very clear political move to target Huawei which is China’s flagship national champion in terms of technology. For example, Huawei is being accused of busting Iran’s sanctions and in the work that Huawei has done it was in conjunction with HSBC, a British bank. Now US did not bring any charges against any of the HSBC bank officials but only Huawei. So from the very beginning it is very politically motivated,” Carl Zha told Press TV in an interview on Saturday.

Meng, 47, was detained at a Vancouver airport on December 1 last year over the charge filed by the US that Huawei bypassed unilateral US sanctions against Iran, but was freed from jail ten days later on a bail of 10 million Canadian dollars (7.5 million US dollars) pending trial, on condition that she must wear an ankle monitor and stay in Canada.

Beijing was infuriated by her detention and house arrest and threatened Ottawa with due consequences if Meng was not released immediately. It further strongly warned the Canadian authorities not to extradite her to the US.

On Friday, however, the Department of Justice of Canada announced that it would allow an extradition hearing to proceed against Meng, adding that she would appear in a Vancouver court at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1800 GMT) on March 6, when a date would be set for her extradition hearing.