US, Canada promise due process for Huawei CFO

Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou. File photo; Reuters

The United States and Canada on Friday promised a fair judicial process for a Chinese executive arrested in Vancouver on a US request, as they appealed to Beijing to free two Canadians held in apparent retaliation.

Foreign ministers and defense chiefs of the neighbors met in the US capital as Canada increasingly looks like collateral damage in a simmering US-China trade war, with Beijing at the same time working to ease trade tensions with Washington.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said authorities were acting "scrupulously" in the detention of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei whom Washington wants extradited for allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran.

China, however, has said that Canada and the US overstepped their authority and that Meng broke no laws. Canada's fears of repercussions have turned out to be well-founded, as China has since detained two Canadians on suspicion of "harm to national security" -- a phrase often used by Beijing when alleging espionage.

Meng, who stands accused of misleading US investors on Huawei's operations in Iran, is out on bail of Can$10 million.