Extradition hearing for Huawei executive begins in Canada

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The first stage of an extradition hearing for a senior executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei begins Monday in a Vancouver courtroom, a case that has infuriated Beijing, set off a diplomatic furor and raised fears of a brewing tech war between China and the United States.

Canada's arrest of chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei's legendary founder, in late 2018 at America's request shocked Beijing.

Huawei represents China's ambitions to become a technological power, but has been the subject of U.S. security concerns for years. Beijing views Meng's case as an attempt to contain China's rise.

"This is one of the top priorities for the Chinese government. They've been very mad. They will be watching this very closely," said Wenran Jiang, a senior fellow at the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia.

Washington accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. It says Meng, 47, committed fraud by misleading HSBC Bank about the company's business dealings in Iran.

Meng, who is free on bail and living in one of the two Vancouver mansions she owns, denies the allegations. Meng's defense team has pointed to comments by U.S. President Donald Trump they say suggest the case against her is politically motivated.

Meng was detained in December 2018 by Canadian authorities in Vancouver as she was changing flights — the same day that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for trade talks.

Prosecutors have stressed that Meng's case is separate from the wider trade dispute, but Trump undercut that message weeks after her arrest when he said he would consider intervening in the case if it would help forge a trade deal with Beijing.

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