China blames Canada, urging U.S. to stop seeking extradition of Huawei CFO

China on Tuesday urged Canada to immediately release Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou and the United States to withdraw its arrest warrant for her.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a regular news briefing after the United States informed the Canadian government that it planned to proceed with a formal request to extradite Meng.

“China has repeatedly expressed its solemn position on the matter,” the spokesperson said. “Anyone with normal judgment could see that the Canadian side has made a serious mistake from the beginning and Meng’s case is not an ordinary judicial case.”

“Canada and the United States arbitrarily misused the bilateral extradition treaty between them, which had severely violated Chinese citizen’s safety and legitimate rights and interests,” said Hua, urging Canada to immediately release Meng and safeguard her legitimate rights and interests.

“The Chinese side strongly urges the United States to correct its mistake right away, withdraw the arrest warrant and stop seeking extradition for Meng,” she added.

According to reports, Richard Fadden, who served as the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service from 2009 to 2013, allegedly suggested that “Canada’s government should ban Huawei from Canada’s 5G networks to protect the security of Canadians.”

In response to the reports, Hua said security issues should be based on facts. “If there is no evidence, they’d better stop delivering such ridiculous speeches.”