China furious over executive’s arrest

China reacted furiously on Thursday after a top executive and daughter of the founder of Chinese telecom giant Huawei was arrested in Canada following a US extradition request, threatening to rattle a trade war truce with the US.

The detention of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, comes after American authorities reportedly launched an investigation into suspected Iran sanctions violations by Huawei, which was already under scrutiny by US intelligence officials who deemed the company a national security threat.

The arrest stirred tensions just as the US and China agreed to a pause in their trade spat while negotiators seek a deal within three months.

“We have made solemn representations to Canada and the US, demanding that both parties immediately clarify the reasons for the detention, and immediately release the detainee to protect the person’s legal rights,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said.

Meng, 46, was arrested in Vancouver on December 1, Canada’s ministry of justice said in a statement on Wednesday, prompting China’s embassy to say it had “seriously harmed [her] human rights”.

The ministry said the US was seeking her extradition. Her bail hearing is on Friday.

It said it could not provide further details due to a publication ban that was sought by Meng, whose father is Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei.

Huawei said it was unaware of any wrongdoing by Meng and was provided with very little information on the charges.

The arrest occurred on the day that US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping struck the trade war truce at a summit in Argentina.

News of her detention rippled through Asian stock markets, with Shanghai and Hong Kong falling and tech firms badly hit.