Ottawa — A top executive from Huawei being held in Canada can make “strong arguments” against extradition to the US, in part due to President Donald Trump's politicisation of the case, Canada's ambassador to China said.
Canadian envoy John McCallum's comments to Chinese-language media, which were broadcast on Wednesday, are the most explicit sign yet from a Canadian official that Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's CFO, may not be sent to the US.
Meng was detained on December 1 in Vancouver at the request of the US over alleged violations of US sanctions on Iran. She is currently under house arrest and China is demanding that she be freed.
In a clip shown by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, McCallum said Meng had “quite good arguments on her side", the first of which was “political involvement by comments from Donald Trump in her case".
Trump said in December that he would intervene in Meng's case if it served US national security interests or helped close a trade deal with China. Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland quickly warned Washington not to politicide extradition cases.
McCallum also said extradition “would not be a happy outcome”, a comment that could irritate the Trump administration, which has generally cool relations with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government.
Huawei declined to comment on McCallum's remarks.
The envoy's comments, which were made in English on Tuesday, are potentially awkward for Canada's government, which insists it cannot intervene because of judicial independence.
Trudeau sidestepped questions about the matter on Wednesday, telling reporters in Saskatchewan that under Canadian law Meng would have a chance to mount a strong defense.
Asked about McCallum's comments, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that China has always held that this is “not a normal judicial issue. It's a serious political issue”.
“I believe that any person with normal judgment can clearly see the true nature of this incident,” she told a regular briefing.
The Liberals may face a tough re-election fight in October against the opposition Conservative Party, which said McCallum's actions raised “questions of political interference”.
David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, tweeted that McCallum's comments were “almost impossible to understand”.
Possible options
McCallum noted Canada has not applied the same sanctions against Iran as the US.
“Canada does not sign onto these Iran sanctions. So I think [Meng] has some strong arguments she can make before a judge,” he said.
The US justice department has until January 30 to file a formal extradition request and Canadian officials will then take up to a month to decide whether an extradition hearing is warranted. Legal experts say they expect a hearing to be held.
“Canada respects its international legal commitments, including by honoring its extradition treaty with the US," Freeland spokesperson Adam Austen said in an e=mail.
Meng's arrest has hurt Canada's relations with China, which subsequently detained two Canadians in December, citing national security concerns. Additionally, a Chinese court later retried a Canadian who had been jailed for drug smuggling and sentenced him to death.
McCallum said he saw three possible options for resolving the case. One would be Meng's extradition, which he said “would not be a happy outcome and that would take years” given that she could lodge legal appeals.
The second would be for the US to make a deal with China whereby the extradition request would be dropped. The third would be Meng's release by a Canadian court on the grounds that the US request was not warranted.
McCallum, a former Liberal cabinet minister, has made headlines in the past with offhand or colorful comments.
Reuters
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