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Image source,fake images
Meng Wanzhou previously appeared in court in Vancouver, Canada.
Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, appeared again in court in Vancouver, Canada on Monday 28. The defense stated that the United States’ extradition procedure was flawed.
Meng Wanzhou’s defense attorney argued that the evidence provided by the United States to Canadian law enforcement agencies omitted key information and was misleading.
Meng Wanzhou was arrested at the Vancouver airport in December 2018. The United States charged him with bank fraud and violated US sanctions against Iran and requested the Canadian government to extradite him.
The focus of this week’s court debate was a 16-page PowerPoint presentation document.
The United States claimed that Meng Wanzhou used this document as an introductory report at a meeting with HSBC in August 2013 to cover up the true relationship between Huawei and its Skycom subsidiary and misled HSBC on the issue of Huawei’s business in Iran, which led to the bank. Violation of US sanctions.
On the other hand, Meng Wanzhou argued that the United States had misled the courts and that the PowerPoint evidence provided by him was missing two pages of key information, showing that Huawei did not hide its true relationship with Skycom.
The judge will decide after the hearing on Friday and Sunday whether to allow the defense to use additional evidence in your favor.
Another round of a long court battle
In the last two years since his arrest, Meng Wanzhou has been under judicial residential surveillance and at the same time used legal channels to fight extradition from the United States and Canada.
In May this year, a Canadian court ruled that Huawei’s executive Meng Wanzhou’s case met the “double criminality” standard for extradition. This decision is not good for the defense, it means that the extradition process will continue, but Meng Wanzhou has the right to appeal.
Image source,AFP via Getty Images
Meng Wanzhou’s defense attorney left the court earlier
After encountering setbacks in the “double criminality” debate, Meng Wanzhou’s defense team will focus on “procedural injustice” this week, tackling the flaws in the US evidence.
Meng Wanzhou’s lawyer previously stated that US President Trump had expressed his willingness to include the case as one of the bargaining chips in the trade negotiations between China and the United States, showing that the case was unfair.
Another focus of the case is what happened to Meng Wanzhou when he was arrested at the Vancouver airport. His lawyer argued that the process of arresting Meng Wanzhou by Canadian law enforcement agencies was not compliant.
Canadian criminal lawyer Gary Botting, who is familiar with Canadian extradition regulations, previously told the BBC that similar extradition cases can be postponed for several years and Meng Wanzhou can appeal multiple times in the process.
Geopolitical dispute
The Meng Wanzhou case set off a wave of waves and triggered an unprecedented crisis in China-Canada relations.
China has detained two Canadian citizens, Kang Mingkai and Michael, for more than a year. China alleged that they were suspected of engaging in activities that endanger China’s national security.
In general, the outside world believes that Beijing’s move is to retaliate against Canada’s request to cooperate with the United States government in the case of Bangladesh.
On the other hand, because HSBC played a key role in the Meng Wanzhou case, the bank is on the cusp of public opinion and may also become China’s main target for retaliation.
The United States stated that Huawei and Meng Wanzhou intentionally withheld information related to HSBC’s Iran business, causing HSBC to violate US sanctions against Iran.
However, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post previously reported that HSBC was aware of the business relationship between Huawei, Skycom and Iran. According to reports, as early as 2010 HSBC and Huawei’s liaison document, HSBC had learned of the true connection between Huawei and its subsidiaries and their business relationship with Iran.
Many Chinese state media published comment articles accusing HSBC of acting as a “secret agent” for the US government and “designing to frame” Huawei.
Chinese state media “Global Times” reported that HSBC had actively cooperated with the US government’s investigation into Huawei, thus it could be included in the Chinese government’s “untrustworthy entity list”. This list system was established by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce to crack down on foreign entities that harm the interests of Chinese companies, institutions and individuals for political reasons.
At the same time, the relations between China and the US remain at odds with each other. The US continues to put pressure on Chinese tech companies, and China’s largest chipmaker SMIC has become the latest target.
Image source,SMIC / Getty Images
The US Department of Commerce recently sent a letter to US SMIC suppliers, warning that SMIC’s products are likely to flow to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and that there is “unprecedented risk.” The company denied any connection to the military.
Currently, the United States has not included SMIC on the commercial blacklist.
The ban on WeChat and TikTok issued by the US government was temporarily blocked by the court.
