Vice Foreign Minister of China Le Yucheng has summoned Terry Branstad, who is the U.S. Ambassador to China. This summon was done in a protest that happened over the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co. CFO Meng Wanzhou, and said that it will take “further action” if required.
Meng was known to be arrested in Vancouver on December 1 on the orders of U.S. authorities for violation of American sanctions for selling technology to Iran. Ambassador of Canada to China was summoned to the ministry on Saturday.
The minister told that U.S. actions have actually violated the “legitimate interests and rights of Chinese citizens and are very bad in nature,” as per a posting on the ministry website. “China will be taking further action as per the U.S. actions.”
The move has come after a week in which both U.S as well as China seemed to struggle with how should they react to an arrest with broad repercussions. At this time both the nations are trying to ratchet back a potentially damaging trade dispute.
Meng’s arrest, on allegations that she had committed fraud for sidestepping sanctions against Iran, has now become a flash-point in ties between China and the U.S. which has rattled investors as well as sent stock markets tumbling.
On Friday, the U.S. began a case against Huawei in a Vancouver courtroom, with allegations that Meng had hidden ties between Huawei and Skycom which did business in Iran, told a lawyer representing Canada in the court hearing.
