China welcomes Huawei executive home, but silent on freed Canadians

[September 25, 2021]  By David Stanway

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Chinese state media welcomed telecoms giant Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, back to the "motherland" on Saturday, after more than 1,000 days under house arrest in Canada, on what they called unfounded charges of bank fraud.

But they have kept silent about Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the two Canadians released from Chinese custody in an apparent act of reciprocation by Beijing.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV carried a statement by the Huawei executive, written as her plane flew over the North Pole, avoiding U.S. airspace.

Her eyes were "blurring with tears" as she approached "the embrace of the great motherland", Meng said. "Without a strong motherland, I wouldn't have the freedom I have today."

Meng was arrested in December 2018 in Vancouver after a New York court issued an arrest warrant, saying she tried to cover up attempts by Huawei-linked companies to sell equipment to Iran in breach of U.S. sanctions.

After more than two years of legal wrangling, she was finally allowed to leave Canada and fly back to China on Friday, after securing a deal with U.S. prosecutors.

Huawei, founded by Meng's father Ren Zhengfei, said in a statement that it "looked forward to seeing Ms. Meng returning home safely to be reunited with her family." It said it would continue to defend itself against U.S. charges.

Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, detained by Chinese authorities just days after Meng's arrest, were released a few hours later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said.

State news agency Xinhua formally acknowledged the end of Meng's house arrest on Saturday, attributing her release to the "unremitting efforts of the Chinese government".

Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou leaves court and the conclusion of a hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada September 24, 2021. REUTERS/Jennifer Gauthier

Hu Xijin, editor in chief of the Global Times tabloid backed by the ruling Communist Party, wrote on Twitter that "international relations have fallen into chaos" as a result of Meng's "painful three years".

He added, "No arbitrary detention of Chinese people is allowed."

However, neither Hu nor other media have mentioned the release of Spavor and Kovrig, and reactions on China's Twitter-like Weibo social media platform have been few and far between.

The foreign ministry has not commented publicly.

China has previously denied engaging in "hostage diplomacy", insisting that the arrest and detention of the two Canadians was not tied in any way to the extradition proceedings against Meng.

Spavor was accused of supplying photographs of military equipment to Kovrig and sentenced to 11 years in jail in August. Kovrig had still been awaiting sentencing.

(Reporting by David Stanway in Shanghai; Additional reporting by David Kirton in Shenzhen; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and William Mallard)

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