Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou leaves the Supreme Court in Vancouver on March 22, 2021.
A Canadian judge has granted a request by the defense team of Chinese Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou to delay the extradition hearing to the United States for three months, possibly until August. That gives Meng’s legal team more time to review new documents obtained from HSBC in Hong Kong. Some lawyers believe Meng will stand to gain and that she could be released, but others believe it is too early to say what the documents will contain.
The court hearing in Meng’s case was scheduled to continue on April 26, but the judge on Wednesday allowed the final round of extradition hearings to be postponed as Meng’s legal team applied for an extension. a new hearing date will be set on April 28.
Meng is accused of misrepresenting Huawei’s control of Starcom (Skycom) to HSBC in Hong Kong, which is accused of violating U.S. economic sanctions against Iran, so the U.S. considers Meng suspected of financial fraud and Canada arrested her at Vancouver airport in December 2018 at the request of the U.S.
On April 12, lawyers for Huawei and HSBC “reached an agreement” in a Hong Kong court on the disclosure of the documents.
Meng’s legal team applied for a postponement of the hearing on the grounds that it needed more time to review the new documents, and Canadian lawyer Richard Kurland said the postponement represented a favorable position for Meng and revealed that there may be further moves in the negotiations between the United States and Huawei. “I feel that there may be pressure from someone in Hong Kong, and I suspect that the U.S. Biden administration will want this case to end as soon as possible, after all, this case began with the previous government. If the U.S. terminates Meng’s extradition, naturally Canada won’t need to try it again.”
Another Canadian lawyer, Lai Jianping, said it was too early to say what kind of new documents HSBC had given Meng, and that a change in the U.S. president would make the case go away.
Meng’s case involves the fate of two Canadians – Mingkai and Spavor. In a phone call Wednesday between President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, both reiterated their condemnation of China’s arbitrary detention of the two men, and Biden pledged to help Canada secure their release. But earlier this month, Chinese Canadian Senator Yuen Pau Woo said Canada should first recognize the legitimacy of the Chinese judicial system if it wants to secure the release of the two men from Chinese custody.
Lai said that there are “real” and “real” levels of law. China certainly has laws, but are they really in line with the rule of law in spirit and implementation? It is impossible for Canada to endorse all of them. “Many Chinese practices do not have a moral basis of universal values, practices that are not in accordance with the law to handle the case, you can say that you will force a confession, let’s say not to see a lawyer, you are not the rule of law, it is difficult to recognize. We can only recognize that is at the level of the law, you have this thing, but this thing is reasonable?”
Another senator, Leo Housakos, was also shocked by Hu Yuanbao’s statement, saying, “Chinese justice can imprison you without charges, without disclosing the charges to you or your lawyer, and behind closed doors. Such a rule of law is ridiculous.”
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