Why China ratchets up pressure on Canada as it scolds US over Huawei executive’s arrest
- While the Chinese government and state media are stepping up the pressure on Ottawa, Beijing’s warning to the US side is more restrained
- Analysts suggest it would not be helpful for Beijing to link Sabrina Meng Wanzhou’s case to the ongoing trade talks with Washington
China decided to pick a fight with Canada over the arrest of a senior Huawei executive because it wants to avoid further confrontation with the United States as talks to resolve the trade war continue, analysts have said.
Beijing has ratcheted up its pressure on Canada to release Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei and the daughter of the Chinese telecom equipment giant’s founder Ren Zhengfei.
On Saturday night, China’s foreign vice-minister Le Yucheng summoned Canada’s ambassador John McCallum to lodge a “strong protest” and officially demand the immediate release of Meng.
China’s official media – including the Xinhua news agency and party mouthpiece People’s Daily – as well as the state-backed tabloid Global Times, joined a chorus condemning Canada’s arrest of Meng and threatened “grave consequences” if she is not freed.
China summoned the US ambassador on Sunday night and lodged “a strong protest” over the case. China’s foreign ministry requested the US to withdraw an arrest warrant for Meng, but it fell short of threatening “grave consequences” as it did to Canada. Instead, Le told Terry Branstad that “China will make further response according to the US acts”, according to a foreign ministry statement.
A district court in New York requested that the Canadian authorities arrest and extradite Meng, who is accused of covering up her company’s links to a firm that supplied equipment to Iran in breach of US sanctions.