Top News: China won’t tolerate bullying of citizens: FM
▶ Canadian judge moves Meng’s bail hearing to Tuesday
China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday that the nation will not ignore any bullying that violates the legitimate rights of overseas Chinese citizens, following the arrest of Huawei senior executive Meng Wanzhou.
“We care about the safety and well-being of each overseas Chinese compatriot and China will not sit idly by and allow any bullying against Chinese citizens and violations of their legal rights,” said Wang at a Tuesday’s symposium.
Wang said that China would do all it can to safeguard the legal rights of Chinese citizens, the China Central Television reported on Tuesday.
Wang has clearly stated the Chinese government’s solemn stance and attitude in safeguarding Chinese citizens’ legal rights at this morning’s speech, which is China’s consistent position, Lu Kang, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a routine press conference on Tuesday.
The position also applies to specific circumstances, including Meng’s case, in which China has made representations to the Canadian and US governments, and the position China expressed was consistent with what Wang said, Lu said.
Meng, Chinese tech giant Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer, was arrested by Canada at the request of the US on December 1, and the arrest wasn’t made public until December 6.
The Canadian government was obliged to inform the Chinese consulate and embassy in Canada about the arrest without any delay based on a SinoCanadian consular agreement, but it failed to do so, Lu said.
China learned about the case from other channels and lodged solemn representations to the Canadian government the first time, he said.
Lu made the remarks after the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday that Canadian justice officials claimed that China has been told about Meng’s detention the day of her arrest.
“You can ask the Canadian government if it was the Chinese side who reached to them first or not,” Lu told reporters at the press conference.
Meng was accused of helping Huawei sell equipment to Iran in violation of US sanctions, and her case has been through two hearings at British Columbia’s Supreme Court since Friday, and the hearing was scheduled to resume on Tuesday, the Associated Press (AP) reported Tuesday.
The previous hearings did not decide on whether Meng would be granted bail, AP reported.
Regarding Monday’s hearing, Huawei said, “We will continue to follow the bail hearing tomorrow. We have every confidence that the Canadian and US legal systems will reach a just conclusion,” according to a statement Huawei sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.
Canadian court documents showed Meng, a permanent Hong Kong resident, had at least seven passports, with four from the Chinese mainland and three from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the South China Morning Post reported on Monday.
On Tuesday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor for the first time responded to it, saying that Meng has only one valid Hong Kong SAR passport, news site kh01.com reported on Tuesday.