Canada’s detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou ‘angered Chinese people’
- Foreign Minister Wang Yi calls for ‘quick and proper’ resolution to get relations back on track, during meeting with Canadian counterpart
- Chrystia Freeland meanwhile raises cases of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who have been detained in China
Wang made the remarks on Friday when he met his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Bangkok, Thailand.
Without naming Meng, Wang told Freeland that “Canada’s detention of a Chinese citizen in December has aroused strong anger in Chinese people and led to serious difficulties in China-Canada relations”, according to a statement from China’s foreign ministry.
“The Chinese government will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and companies, and we hope this issue can be resolved in a quick and proper way so that China-Canada relations can get back on the right and healthy track as soon as possible,” Wang said.
It was the first meeting between Wang and Freeland since relations between Beijing and Ottawa turned sour in December, after Vancouver police detained Meng on an extradition request from US authorities who have charged her with fraud for allegedly violating Iran sanctions.
Meng – chief financial officer of Chinese tech firm Huawei and the daughter of its founder, Ren Zhengfei – has denied the wrongdoing and was placed under house arrest in Vancouver to await an extradition hearing set for January. Beijing is also demanding her return.