A new round of hearings in Huawei’s extradition case against Ren Zhengfei’s daughter, Meng Wanzhou, will begin Nov. 16 in Vancouver, as both sides continue to cross-examine witnesses about whether law enforcement agencies committed “procedural abuses” in taking Meng into custody, nearly two years after she was arrested by Canadian police in response to a U.S. extradition request.
The hearings, which began Monday, will last 10 days and continue with hearings that originally ended in early November. Due to the overrun of the last round of questioning, the court found it necessary to schedule more hearings.
The last round of witness examination hearings began on Oct. 26 and lasted five days. Relevant witnesses from the Canada Border Services Agency, RCMP were questioned in court. Canada’s Justice Department later released a statement saying that this round of hearings is not a trial and the judge will not make a ruling at the end of the hearings. The evidence from the hearing will be used in the “abuse of process” debate that will follow.
Huawei’s legal team has argued that there was “abuse of process” during Meng’s detention, which violated her fundamental rights, in a bid to get the court to suspend the extradition proceedings.
According to the current court schedule, the hearing on whether “abuse of process” is established in this case will take place from February 16 to March 5, 2021. The hearing on extradition will be held from April 26-30, 2021.
A Canadian court ruled in early October in favour of the Justice Department’s decision not to provide Meng’s lawyers with most of the “privileged” documents, including emails between Canadian and US government departments.
The U.S. Department of Justice accused Huawei and its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou of violating the U.S. sanctions ban on Iran, suspected bank fraud, under a bilateral extradition agreement to request Canada’s assistance in the arrest and extradition to the U.S. to face trial.On Dec. 1, 2018, Meng Wanzhou flew into Vancouver for a transit to South America and was arrested after being detained at the airport.
China retaliated by arresting former Canadian diplomat Kang Mingkai and businessman Spavor in 2019. This was widely seen as China’s “hostage diplomacy” to pressure Canada to release Meng Wanzhou, sending relations between Canada and China into a downward spiral.
China has repeatedly demanded that Canada release Meng, while denying the “hostage diplomacy” claim. In addition, two other Canadians accused of drug smuggling were sentenced to death in 2019, and a large import ban on Canadian agricultural products was imposed.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with China’s “coercive diplomacy,” most recently on November 11, amid deteriorating relations between Canada and China. Trudeau said that China was pressuring Canada over the case of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou, but that Canada would not succumb to China’s “coercive diplomacy”.
Last month, another round of diplomatic row erupted between Canada and China. China’s ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, described Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters as thugs at a video press conference on Oct. 15, warned Canada against granting them political asylum, and said that if Canada truly cares about the health and safety of the 300,000 Canadian passport holders in Hong Kong, as well as the interests of the large number of Canadian companies in the city, it should support the Chinese government’s efforts to combat violent crime.
Cong Peiwu’s statement sparked a huge controversy and drew harsh criticism from both sides of the political spectrum in Canada. Canada criticized China’s use of “coercive diplomacy,” while China dismissed it as “condoning anti-China rhetoric.”
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