Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused the Chinese Communist Party of “hostage-taking” for its imprisonment of two Canadians, a move the Chinese government made after Canada arrested and began the extradition process for a top Huawei executive.
Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested by Canadian authorities in December 2018 at the request of the United States, indicted in the Eastern District of New York in January 2019, and charged with bank fraud and wire fraud as well as conspiracy to commit both alleged crimes. In the same 13-count indictment in the Brooklyn court, Huawei was charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, and violations of sanctions against Iran.
After Meng’s arrest, China arrested two Canadian citizens, businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig, who remain imprisoned. Meng was released on $10 million bail in early January 2019 and has been living in a mansion her family owns in Vancouver.
“Today, Canada’s national day celebrations are dimmed by the CCP’s recent decision to bring trumped-up espionage charges against Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor,” Pompeo said Wednesday. “The CCP’s propagandists have implied that these two Canadian citizens are hostages, held in retaliation for Canada’s lawful arrest of Huawei’s executive.”
The secretary of state added: “I commend the Canadian Government for standing firm and backing their independent legal system. Hostage-taking for political gains puts China in league with the Irans and Venezuelas of the world. The two Mikes need to come home now.”
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, has rejected pressure from China to free Meng.
“The Chinese authorities have directly linked the case of the two Michaels to the judicial proceedings against Ms. Meng, which is extremely disappointing because, for us, there obviously are no links except in politics on that,” Trudeau said. “So we will continue to ask the Chinese and put pressure on the Chinese government to cease the arbitrary detention of these two Canadian citizens who are being held for no other reason that the Chinese government is disappointed with the independent proceedings of the Canadians judiciary. We will continue to stand strong and firm on the return of the two Michaels.”
Chinese court officials claimed Kovrig was indicted for “gathering state secrets and intelligence for foreign countries,” and Spavor was indicted for “illegally providing state secrets for foreign countries,” according to the New York Times.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, “the criminal facts are clear, and the evidence is verified and sufficient” and exclaimed that “you ask a question brimming with malice — you better ask the Canadian government what hostage diplomacy is” when a reporter asked about it.
Last month, Pompeo emphasized the charges against Kovrig and Spavor “are politically motivated and completely groundless” and that the U.S. “rejects the use of these unjustified detentions to coerce Canada.”
John Bolton, the former national security adviser to President Trump, referenced the Justice Department’s Huawei cases in his book, The Room Where It Happened, writing that Trump offered in 2019 “to reverse criminal prosecution against Huawei if it would help in the trade deal.”
But Bolton said in June that the case against Meng was entirely legitimate, telling CBC Radio that “it’s very clear what the purpose of the arrest was — it was not politically motivated at all, and I’d be happy to testify under oath to that effect in a Canadian court.”
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruled against Meng in May, dismissing one of the key arguments by Meng in her fight against extradition.
Huawei’s lawyers argued before the Vancouver court in January about the issue of “double criminality” — whether or not the actions the U.S. accused her of committing were also crimes under Canadian law. Canada’s Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes issued a lengthy ruling shooting down Meng’s arguments, thus allowing the winding extradition proceedings to move forward.
If Meng’s lawyers had succeeded in convincing the court, she could have been off the hook. Now, the proceedings are moving toward another hearing later this summer.
The Justice Department unveiled a superseding indictment against Huawei in February, charging the Chinese telecommunications giant with racketeering and conspiracy to steal trade secrets.
Meng is the daughter of Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s founder and CEO, who has consistently denied that Huawei has done anything wrong.
In November, Attorney General William Barr said Huawei’s “own track record, as well as the practices of the Chinese government, demonstrate that Huawei … cannot be trusted.”
The U.S. has engaged in an all-out effort to limit Huawei’s global reach, especially in the area of fifth-generation wireless, or 5G, pushing its “Five Eyes” partners to reject Huawei technology in their communications networks, and Canada is reconsidering its business dealings with Huawei. The U.S. views Huawei technology as a national security threat.
