Two Canadians detained in China on spying charges have been released from prison hours after a top boss at Huawei resolved criminal charges against her in a deal with the U.S. Justice Department.
Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were arrested in China in December 2018, shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and the daughter of the company’s founder, on a U.S. extradition request.
Many countries labeled China’s action “hostage politics.”
The deal with Meng calls for the Justice Department to dismiss fraud charges late next year in exchange for Meng accepting responsibility for misrepresenting her company’s business dealings in Iran.
Trudeau called a news conference Friday night about an hour after Meng’s plane left Canada for China.
The arrangement with Meng, known as a deferred prosecution agreement, resolves a years long legal and geopolitical tussle that involved not only the U.S. and China but also Canada, where Meng has remained since she was arrested at Vancouver’s airport in December 2018.
The deal was reached as President Joe Biden and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have sought to damp down signs of public tension — even as the world’s two dominant economies are at odds on issues as diverse as cybersecurity, climate change, human rights and trade and tariffs.
Biden said in an address before the U.N. General Assembly earlier this week that he had no intention of starting a “new Cold War,” while Xi told world leaders that disputes among countries “need to be handled through dialogue and cooperation.”
As part of the deal, disclosed in federal court in Brooklyn, the Justice Department agreed to dismiss the fraud charges against Meng in December 2022 — exactly four years after her arrest — provided that she complies with certain conditions, including not contesting any of the government’s factual allegations.
BBC