Canada will not give in to China's 'coercive diplomacy', says PM Trudeau
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Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday said that his country would bow down to pressure coming in from China, referring to the case of Huawei
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday said that his country would not bow down to pressure coming in from China, referring to the case of Huawei.
Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on a warrant by US two years ago.
Owing to this, a diplomatic crisis has taken shape between China and Canada. After Meng’s arrest, China detained two Canadian citizens - Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig on charges of espionage.
"We don't believe in coercive diplomacy and ... we actually deeply believe that if you start giving into that kind of pressure, you'll leave yourself worse off for the long term," Trudeau said during an FT online conference in an interview.
“China continues to think that they can just put enough pressure on us and we will ... give in, but that's exactly the opposite of our position," he added.
Huawei’s Meng has denied charges against her in the US, and is currently fighting extradition from house arrest in Vancouver.
A Canadian court in August blocked Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou's request for intelligence documents over national security concerns.
To this end, China’s embassy in Canada said Ottawa was “accomplice to United States efforts to bring down Huawei and Chinese high-tech companies.”
Meng, a Chinese citizen and daughter of Huawei’s billionaire founder Ren Zheng, was arrested in December 2018 on a warrant issued by US authorities. They accused her of bank fraud for misleading HSBC about Huawei’s relationship with a company operating in Iran, putting HSBC at risk of fines and penalties for breaking US sanctions on Tehran. Meng had consistently denied the charges.
The Huawei executive's lawyers had sought access to the sensitive documents to support claims of abuse of process during her arrest, however, Justice Catherine Kane said that documents "is not relevant to the allegations of abuse of process described by counsel for Ms. Meng."
Canadian government lawyers had earlier said that it has released as much information as it legally can on Meng's arrest as her lawyers pushed for the release of more documents to support their claim that the Canadian and American authorities committed abuses of process while questioning Meng.