Canada violated ‘pact’ in Huawei arrest: China

Bloomberg

China accused Canada of violating a bilateral agreement by failing to speedily inform its consulate of the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co.
Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, as tensions between the nations continue to escalate.
“According to the China-Canada consular agreement, if a Chinese citizen is arrested by the Canadian government, the Canadian government should immediately notify the Chinese embassy,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters in Beijing. “But the Canadian government didn’t do that.”
Despite follow-up questions on when Beijing found out about the detention, Lu declined to provide more details.
Over the weekend, Chinese authorities separately summoned the ambassadors of Canada and the US to protest Meng’s arrest on allegations she committed fraud to sidestep sanctions against Iran.
The case has become a flash-point in ties between the US and China that’s rattled investors and sent stock markets tumbling.
Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng warned Canada’s ambassador that his nation could face “severe consequences” if it didn’t release Meng immediately. Le said earlier in a separate statement that US actions have violated the “legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and are extremely bad in nature,” while also pledging further action.
China and the US are grappling with how to react to the incident, which threatens to upend progress in trade talks achieved in Argentina. President Donald Trump’s trade team sought to insulate talks with China from the growing dispute, while officials in Beijing have debated the pros and cons of retaliation.