Two Canadians detained in China on spying charges were released from prison and flown out of the country on Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, just after Huawei Technologies Co (華為) chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) reached a deal with the US Department of Justice over fraud charges and flew to China.
The frenetic chain of events involving the global powers brought an abrupt end to legal and geopolitical wrangling that for the past three years has roiled relations between Washington, Beijing and Ottawa.
The three-way deal enabled China and Canada to each bring home their own detained citizens, while the US wrapped up a criminal case against a prominent tech executive that for months had been mired in an extradition fight.
Photo: AFP
The first activity came on Friday afternoon when Meng, 49, the daughter of the company’s founder, reached an agreement with US federal prosecutors that called for fraud charges against her to be dismissed next year and allowed for her to return to China immediately.
As part of the deal, known as a deferred prosecution agreement, she accepted responsibility for misrepresenting the company’s business dealings with Iran.
About an hour after Meng’s plane left Canada for China, Trudeau revealed that Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were also on their way home.
The men were arrested in China in December 2018, shortly after Canada arrested Meng on a US extradition request.
Many countries labeled China’s action “hostage diplomacy.”
“These two men have been through an unbelievably difficult ordeal. For the past 1,000 days, they have shown strength, perseverance and grace, and we are all inspired by that,” Trudeau said.
News of Meng’s pending return was a top item on the Chinese Internet and on state broadcaster Chinese Central Television’s midday news report, with no mention made of the release of Kovrig and Spavor.
Video was circulated online of Meng speaking at Vancouver International Airport, saying: “Thank you motherland, thank you to the people of the motherland. You have been my greatest pillar of support.”
Meng was expected to arrive late yesterday in Shenzhen, China, where Huawei is based.
“The US government stands with the international community in welcoming the decision by People’s Republic of China authorities to release Canadian citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig after more than two-and-a-half years of arbitrary detention. We are pleased that they are returning home to Canada,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
As part of the deal with Meng, which was disclosed in US federal court in Brooklyn, New York, the department agreed to dismiss the fraud charges against her in December next year — exactly four years after her arrest — provided that she complies with certain conditions, including not contesting any of the government’s factual allegations.
The department also agreed to drop its request that Meng be extradited to the US, which she had vigorously challenged, ending a process that prosecutors said could have persisted for months.
Following her appearance via videoconference for her New York hearing, Meng made a brief court appearance in Vancouver, where she had been out on bail living in a multimillion-dollar mansion while the two Canadians were held in Chinese prison cells where the lights were kept on 24 hours a day.
Comfort Ero, the interim vice president of the International Crisis Group, Kovrig’s employer, said they have been waiting for more than 1,000 days for the news.
“Michael Kovrig is free. To Beijing: We welcome this most just decision. To Ottawa: Thank you for your steadfast support for our colleague. To the United States: Thank you for your willingness to support an ally and our colleague. To the inimitable, indefatigable and inspiring Michael Kovrig, welcome home!” Ero said in a statement.
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