Chinese state media on Saturday described Huawei heiress Meng Wanzhou’s surprise release from detention in Canada as “exciting news” and a “landmark deal” in first reactions from Beijing after she reached an agreement with the US justice department that allows her to return to China.
Chinese state-run media said that Meng Wanzhou’s release from her home detention in Vancouver could ease “frozen” China-Canada ties.
Meng Wanzhou is the elder daughter of billionaire Ren Zhengfei who in 1987 founded Huawei, the largest telecom equipment maker in the world.
The US had alleged that Meng Wanzhou, who is Huawei’s chief financial officer (CFO), had misled HSBC bank over the nature of Huawei;s ties with a company called Skycom. It had put HSBC at risk of violating US sanctions against Iran, Washington had alleged.
Following the deal on Friday, Meng Wanzhou was expected to be back in China as early as Saturday night, the Global Times said. “In a video footage seen by the Global Times, a GPS tracker ankle bracelet that Meng has worn for over two years has been removed, and she addressed the public after the hearing, showing gratitude for the Canadian judge and court upholding the rule of law,” it said.
Meng Wanzhou, according to the Global Times report, appeared virtually in an American federal courtroom in Brooklyn on Friday, and reached a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in a case of federal charges against her for bank and wire fraud.
{{/usCountry}}Meng Wanzhou, according to the Global Times report, appeared virtually in an American federal courtroom in Brooklyn on Friday, and reached a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in a case of federal charges against her for bank and wire fraud.
{{/usCountry}}“Under the terms of this agreement, Meng will not be prosecuted further in the US and the extradition proceedings in Canada will be terminated,” according to a statement of William Taylor, one of the lawyers who represent Meng Wanzhou.
“Over the past three years my life has been turned upside down. It was a disruptive time for me as a mother, as a wife,” Meng Wanzhou told reporters and supporters on the steps outside the Vancouver courtroom after the hearing, according to a Reuters report.
China had accused Canada of arbitrarily detaining Meng Wanzhou, and acting as an accomplice of the US, despite violating no Canadian law.