China has been fighting tooth and nail for the release of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei. Meng's arrest in late 2018 by the Canadian authorities at Vancouver's airport infuriated Beijing, which has since been making many retaliation efforts to somehow force Canada to bow to its demands.
With Huawei CFO's arrest at the centre of Canada-China tensions, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday made a statement that is bound to leave Beijing hot under the collar. Experts suggest riled up China is running out of moves and Trudeau is not willing to bow down to China's bullying.
Trudeau rejects swap
Trudeau has rejected China's call to swap Huawei exec for two citizens held by Beijing, which was in retaliation to Meng's arrest. The two were charged with suspected spying last week. Trudeau said a swap would set a bad precedent and harm Canada.
"(This) would endanger the millions of Canadians who live and travel overseas every single year. We cannot allow political pressures or random arrests of Canadian citizens to influence the functioning of our justice system," Trudeau told reporters, according to Reuters.
Even though China has denied a relationship between the arrest of Meng and the two Canadians, Trudeau said the link was clear.
"We deplore what China did ... and will continue to remain steadfast and strong," he said. The prime minister added that it would be "absolutely unacceptable" to dance to Beijing's tunes.
The United States ordered the arrest of Meng for allegedly covering up Huawei's links to sell equipment to Iran, which violates US sanctions against the country. Following Meng's arrest in Vancouver, China demanded and later threatened for her release. This has resulted in altered policies between the two countries.
