Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi File photo: Xinhua

 
Amid deteriorating bilateral ties due to the detention of Huawei senior executive Meng Wanzhou, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs François-Philippe Champagne on Tuesday in Rome, calling on the Canadian side to make a decision as soon as possible to eliminate obstacles between the two countries. 

China and Canada do not have any historical entanglement or actual conflict, but due to the unprovoked detention of a Chinese citizen by Canada, relations between the two countries have encountered serious difficulties, Wang told the Canadian official.

“Whoever started the trouble should end it,” he said, urging the Canadian side to take the stance of being an independent country and make a decision as soon as possible to eliminate obstacles in the relationship. 

On the same day Wang met Champagne, Meng’s legal team lost its latest court battle, as the senior executive of Huawei has been fighting extradition to the US, which is a serious political incident that the US concocted to suppress Chinese high-tech enterprises and Huawei, as the Chinese side has reiterated, and Canada has played the role of accomplice to the US. 

A federal court judge refused to give Meng access to sensitive information contained in reports on her arrest produced by Canada's spy agency, Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia in Canada held a hearing last week on whether or not the judicial process was abused when the US requested the extradition of Meng from Canada and on whether information should be further released about Meng's arrest.

In documents filed with the court on August 17, Meng’s defense team argued that Meng "reasonably believes that many documents are the subject of excessive redactions and overly broad claims of privilege. It is likely that there is redacted information that is relevant to her abuse of process allegations," according to media reports.

Meng's defense team is now targeting the alleged abuse of process - one of the major controversial points in the extradition case.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has warned multiple times that the longer the case against Meng continues, the deeper the damage will be done to relations with China. 

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Canada, Wang said. “50 years ago, Canadian leaders removed external interference and withstood pressure from all parties to achieve the establishment of diplomatic relations with China, which was the correct step,” he added. 

Global Times