Canada-China dispute heats up

An executive of a top Chinese telecom company on Sunday sued the Canadian government, the border agency, and police, saying they breached her rights during a Dec. 1 arrest. Canadian authorities detained Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on behalf of the United States at an airport in Vancouver after she arrived on a flight from Hong Kong. She is charged with misleading banks about the company’s dealings with Iran and violating U.S. sanctions.

The civil claim, filed in the British Columbia Supreme Court, said authorities held Meng for three hours without access to a lawyer before telling her why she was arrested. During that time, border officials seized her two cellphones, an iPad, and a personal computer, which they “unlawfully opened and viewed the contents,” the claim stated. Meng’s extradition proceedings are scheduled to begin Wednesday.

Since Meng’s arrest, China sentenced a Canadian to death and detained two others in apparent retaliation. On Monday, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported that former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig violated Chinese laws by acting as a spy and stealing state secrets and intelligence with the help of Canadian businessman Michael Spavor. It was the first time the two men’s cases have been linked.