US prosecutors reach deal to allow "imprisoned" Huawei exec to return to China

US prosecutors reach deal to allow imprisoned Huawei exec to return to China
U.S. prosecutors have reached a deal to allow an imprisoned Huawei executive to be released from prison.
Federal prosecutors in New York informed the court of a hearing on Friday in the case of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, according to court records.
The parties will “address with this Court a resolution of the charges against the defendant in this matter,” prosecutors said.

It was unclear from the documents what the parties agreed to, but according to The Wall Street Journal, Meng is expected to admit wrongdoing in exchange for prosecutors deferring and ultimately dropping wire and bank fraud charges against her.
Meng was arrested by Canadian law enforcement in 2018 at the request of the U.S. on charges of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran by misrepresenting Huawei’s dealings in the country. She’s been in Vancouver undergoing a trial over an extradition request to the United States.

Huawei and Meng’s team have denied the charges, arguing that the case had been politically motivated since it was filed amid then President Trump’s trade war with China, CNN noted.
The arrest sparked tensions between the U.S., Canada and China. Shortly after Meng’s arrest, the Chinese government detained two Canadian citizens — Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig — for espionage.
Both the U.S. and Canada have urged China to release the citizens, known as the “two Michaels.”

Imprisoned? Gets to live in both her two $22 million Vancouver mansions and can gallivant around Vancouver with her ankle bracelet on and a security guard. Meanwhile the 'two Michaels', Canadians who were picked up days after her detention at the US's request have been sitting in Chinese jails, tried and convicted with over 10 years to serve. Canadian farmers losing $2 billion in trade a year, (pests were found in the canola but when asked for proof, roadblocks for answers). Made worse when Trump said she could be released if he got his trade deal.

I wonder if Mrs Wanzhou will tell her friends and family back home (some who visited her in Vancouver) how utterly horrifying it was while she was imprisoned? Wonder how the two Michaels as doing since there had been no contact with them.

Huawei's Meng Wanzhou flies back to China after deal with US
Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, was detained on fraud charges in December 2018 at the request of the US.
On Friday, the US Department of Justice dropped an extradition request for her.
The case infuriated China and strained relations with the US and Canada.
It also prompted accusations that China had detained Canadian citizens in retaliation, which China denied.
"My life has been turned upside down. It was a disruptive time for me," Ms Meng told reporters after being freed from Canadian detention.

"Every cloud has a silver lining," she continued, adding: "I will never forget all the good wishes I received from people around the world."
Shortly afterwards she boarded an Air China flight bound for the Chinese city of Shenzhen, AFP news agency reports.

Details of a possible deal for Ms Meng's release have been the subject of intense negotiations between US and Chinese diplomats.

The US alleged Ms Meng misled the bank HSBC over the true nature of Huawei's relationship with a company called Skycom, putting the bank at risk of violating US sanctions against Iran.

On Friday the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said it had reached a deferred prosecution agreement.
This means the DOJ would hold off from prosecuting Ms Meng until December 2022. If she complied with conditions set by court, the case would eventually be dropped.

The deal, which recommended she be released, allowed her to formally deny guilt for key charges while also acknowledging the allegations laid out by the Americans.

Later on Friday, Canadian prosecutors told a court in Vancouver that they had withdrawn efforts to extradite her to the US and that she should be discharged from detention.

She had been under house arrest in her multimillion-dollar Vancouver home for nearly three years.
Ahead of the court appearance, Ms Meng was seen entering the building accompanied by Chinese consular officials.
The judge subsequently ordered that she go free.

As part of the deal, Ms Meng agreed to a "statement of facts" admitting that she knowingly made false statements to HSBC.

The DOJ said Ms Meng had "taken responsibility for her principal role in perpetrating a scheme to defraud a global financial institution".

The DOJ also said said it was continuing to prepare for trial against Huawei.

A few days after Ms Meng was arrested, China detained two Canadian citizens, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, on suspicion of spying.
Critics have accused China of treating them as political bargaining chips, held as part of what is known as "hostage diplomacy". China denies this.

Last month, a Chinese court convicted Michael Spavor, a businessman, of espionage and sentenced him to 11 years in prison.
Canada condemned the sentence, saying his trial did not satisfy even the minimum standards required by international law.

Meng Wanzhou’s shock release may not improve China’s relationships with US or Canada, analysts say

• The next step to reduce tensions would be Beijing’s release of two Canadiens arrested for espionage but analysts say that is not likely any time soon

• As for the US, ‘the Biden administration will continue to sanction Huawei, and China will still feel bullied by Meng’s arrest’

The surprise agreement between US prosecutors and Huawei Technologies Co. executive Meng Wanzhou that allows Meng to return to China after nearly three years of detention in Canada will not reset strained relations among the three nations any time soon, analysts said

Even if China releases Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, the two Canadians arrested for espionage just days after Meng was detained in Vancouver, BC, in December 2018, Beijing’s relationships with the US and Canada are so steeped in mistrust that they will remain deeply troubled, they said.

Canadian officials may have to wait longer than they expect for the return of “the Michaels”, said Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Centre’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. Earlier this year Spavor was sentenced to 11 years in prison; Kovrig’s sentence is pending. Daly called the espionage charges brought against the two men “fiction”.

For its part, Beijing has characterised Meng’s detention as part of an effort by Washington to halt Huawei’s rapid accumulation of global market share in the mobile telecoms industry and Ottawa’s involvement in the case as compliance in this campaign.

Chinese officials have also dismissed the US case that Meng misled lender HSBC in a way that caused the bank to violate US sanctions against Iran. On Friday, Meng did not plead guilty to the charges but, as part of the agreement, admitted to providing “knowingly false statements”.

“Step two is for China to release [Spavor and Kovrig] immediately – although China will probably want a decent interval to uphold the fiction that the two Michaels have been handled in accordance with law,” said Daly, who has also served as a US diplomat in Beijing.
“Meng’s release on its own will not lower temperatures in
US-China relation
s; it may even raise them as China claims victory over a wrongful prosecution,” Daly said.

“Neither China nor the United States seems to have made concessions in the handling of the case”, he added. “Beijing will see Meng’s return as a vindication of hostage diplomacy; the key question for Canadians and the rest of the world will be what to make of China’s ready and ongoing embrace of that strategy.”

Ethan Paul, a research associate at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a Washington-based think tank, noted that the Meng agreement is the first move the Biden administration has made on any of the items included in the “two lists” China’s Foreign Vice-Minister Xie Feng presented to US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in July. Top Chinese officials have repeatedly emphasised that those lists represent Beijing‘s core negotiating position, Paul said.

However, he added that “it is possible that Beijing will not move forward with freeing the two Michaels until the charges against Meng are dropped completely”, which based on the terms of the agreement between US prosecutors and Meng, will not happen until December 2022.

Even if Meng’s release were to lead to a more cooperative relationship between Washington and Beijing, US President
Joe Biden will face criticism that he caved to a country that one of his own military leaders has called America’s “pacing threat for the next decade”.

That charge started soon after news of the agreement broke on Friday.

“Meng Wanzhou violated US sanctions, but the Biden administration chose to appease the Chinese Communist Party rather than enforcing the law,” Senator Tom Cottonl the Arkansas Republican who is a vocal China critic, said in a statement. “Instead of standing firm against China’s hostage-taking and blackmail, President Biden folded.

“This surrender only encourages the Communists in Beijing to take more Americans and our allies hostage in the future.”

Wow, news is changing fast.

Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou flying back to China, after striking deal with US over fraud charges

• An Air China flight carrying Meng took off from Vancouver’s airport at 4.29pm Friday, a few hours after the US withdrew its request for her extradition

• The deal to free Meng also appears to have resulted in China releasing detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who are flying home too

Huawei Technologies Co. executive Meng Wanzhou is flying back to China, after reaching a deal on Friday with prosecutors in New York that effectively resolves a US fraud case that had kept her in legal limbo in Vancouver for nearly three years.

The deal did not just secure the release of the Meng - it also appears to have resulted in China freeing detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, whose release was announced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The deferred prosecution agreement, which would see the charges shelved then dropped, was approved at a US Federal Court hearing in Brooklyn, which Meng attended via video link. She then made a brief appearance at the Supreme Court of British Columbia, where the request for her extradition was withdrawn and her bail conditions lifted, bringing to a close a marathon case that had thrown China’s relations with Canada and the US into crisis.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3146487/chinese-envoy-speaks-meng-wanzhou-phone-sends-message-canada?module=perpetual_scroll&pgtype=article&campaign=3146487

Chinese envoy speaks to Meng Wanzhou by phone, sends message for Canada to rectify ‘serious mistake’

• ‘Any action to bully or oppress the Chinese people will be met with a painful strike,’ Cong Peiwu tells detained Huawei executive

• Cong made the call on the eve of the 1000-day anniversary of Meng’s arrest, offering her his deep sympathy and condolences

China’s ambassador to Canada has urged the country to rectify its “serious mistake” in the handling of the US extradition request for Huawei senior executive Meng Wanzhou
during a phone conversation with Meng on Wednesday.

The phone call came weeks ahead of an expected ruling on the Huawei chief financial officer’s extradition to the US.

Ozumoz66 said:

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor greeted by Trudeau in Calgary after detention in China

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greeted Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor at the airport in Calgary early this morning.

calgaryherald.com

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I was following it while it happened last night and I was really happy when I heard they were on the plane and out of Chinese airspace. Now about the $billion a year in canola shipments that the Chinese halted because of "pests" that they would not provide sample of...

How the US (Hey Trump was in charge.) could not see serving Canada the extradition papers would not come at a cost to Canada, it is hard to phantom.

The Canadian hostages have been released in exchange for a Chinese criminal.

captainmorgan said:

The Canadian hostages have been released in exchange for a Chinese criminal.

Click to expand...

China. What do you expect?

Why a Canada-China trade dispute was (almost) a gift to US biotech
Canada and China are in a trade dispute over canola oil. The origins of the case are pure politics. Canada held a Huawei executive on a U.S. fraud charge, and China retaliated by banning canola oil exports from two Canadian companies and slow-walking inspections more generally.

Canada sued at the World Trade Organization (WTO), filing a case that promised big returns for U.S. biotechnology. But that’s no longer in the cards, not because Canada can’t win, but because the Biden administration refuses to unblock the WTO’s Appellate Body (AB).

Canola oil is a genetically modified cooking oil that is popular the world over. It’s among the lowest in saturated fats and is a major Canadian export to China. Or at least it was, until an executive from Huawei was detained by Canadian authorities on a U.S. warrant for selling crucial equipment to Iran. China retaliated by banning canola imports from two Canadian firms, Viterra and Richardson International, and hit other canola imports with “enhanced” inspections. China also arrested two Canadians on allegations of spying.

Canola sales to China plummeted, prompting Canada to file a case at the WTO. And it’s a good one. The most interesting part of the case concerns health and safety standards. Canada is arguing that China has no scientific basis to do what it’s doing. The request for consultations is a whopping seven pages, hits China on a long and thorough list of legal claims and adds, for good measure, that China isn’t just violating the letter of the law, but its spirit too.

Canada can win this case. The ruling, net of all appeals, was shaping up to be a gift to U.S. biotechnology. Indeed, the dispute centers on key parts of China’s import regime on genetically modified foods, meaning the case matters beyond canola.

But since the Biden administration is refusing to unblock the AB, U.S. biotechnology will be short-changed. Why? Because Canada and China have decided to use arbitration as a work-around for an appeal, known as the multi-party interim arbitration agreement. They have no choice; the AB isn’t working. But this means that it will not be possible for U.S. biotechnology to get the full benefits of what was shaping up to be a “free ride.”

China’s import regime on genetically modified foods poses numerous challenges to U.S. biotechnology. Getting an import permit is time-consuming, mired in opacity and depends on things that make no scientific sense. China is a global outlier in terms of testing procedures, its toxicity restrictions, and its insistence on rat testing. Exporters need to field test in China, even though they’re not allowed to grow in China.

Canada’s case raises two big issues that U.S. biotechnology cares about. First, that China pursues different health and safety goals depending on the food, including whether it is home-grown versus imported. Second, that there are less trade-restrictive means by which China can get the job done. Just getting China to explain its “appropriate level of protection” would have been a serious win for U.S. biotechnology.

But that’s not going to happen now. Canada and China will pursue arbitration in the AB’s absence. The two countries may reach a solution to their dispute, but there won’t be a ruling to give China political cover to comply or for the U.S. to leverage in future litigation. That’s a shame because U.S. biotechnology stood to benefit even more from a ruling than Canada, given that the U.S. is a far bigger exporter of genetically modified foods, and other countries might mimic China in closing their markets.

There’s a cost to putting trade policy on pause in a global economy. This is an example of how costly it is. If the Biden administration doesn’t soon unblock the AB, canola won’t be the last gift from an ally that the U.S. misses out on.

The WTO’s Appellate Body needs to be working to settle world disputes. I understand why Trump blocked it because he does not agree with global trade rules, Biden? Not sure why.

printer said:

I was following it while it happened last night and I was really happy when I heard they were on the plane and out of Chinese airspace. Now about the $billion a year in canola shipments that the Chinese halted because of "pests" that they would not provide sample of...

How the US (Hey Trump was in charge.) could not see serving Canada the extradition papers would not come at a cost to Canada, it is hard to phantom.

Click to expand...

It's easy to fathom. trump didn't care about one of our closest allies. He doesn't care about America what makes anyone think he's cares about a foreign country. Especially Canada after they took his name off the bankrupt trump tower in Toronto.

And it only cost the Canadian economy billions.

Maybe we should re-evaluate the extradition treaties we have with unstable governments.

I am more concerned with the US blocking the ability for the WTO from installing judges. The old crew's time was up and now they do not have enough judges to rule on cases. It does not allow countries to have their cases heard and to try to sole problems on a one to one basis. And China negotiating with Canada, that is like a lightweight against a heavyweight. It does not bother the US for the same reason. But casses from us little guys set precedence that can be advantageous to the US in dealing with China. China is going to be the number one problem for the world in the future and we should all work together to coral it in.