Author: Kate Conger and Ian Austen / Source: New York Times

Outside British Columbia’s Supreme Court in Vancouver on Monday, the second day of a bail hearing for Meng Wanzhou. David Ryder/Reuters
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Since Dec. 1, Meng Wanzhou, a top executive of the Chinese technology firm Huawei and a daughter of the company’s founder, has been detained in Vancouver at the behest of American authorities, prompting a diplomatic tussle between China and the United States.
On Monday, Ms. Meng’s lawyers fought for her to be granted bail while she awaits a decision on whether she will be extradited to the United States. The judge, Justice William Ehrcke, is expected to rule on the bail request on Tuesday.
At the bail hearing at British Columbia’s Supreme Court on Monday, Ms. Meng’s lawyers pulled out all the stops to free their client. They brought in executives of two security companies to testify about how they would monitor Ms. Meng if she were to be released. The lawyers said Ms. Meng, 46, would pay the fees for both security companies, submit to physical and electronic monitoring, and give two Vancouver homes and a cash payment to secure bail. The cash and homes would total roughly $15 million in value.
“Given her unique profile as the face of a Chinese corporate national champion, if she were to flee or breach your order in any way in these very unique circumstances, my lord, it does not overstate to say she would embarrass China itself,” one of her lawyers, David Martin, told the judge.
United States authorities have argued in court documents that Ms. Meng should not be released before extradition. They said that her family’s wealth and connections would make it easy for her to flee Canada, and that she had been issued seven different passports from China and Hong Kong in the past 11 years. China and the United States do not have an extradition treaty, they added.
Ms. Meng’s detention has unfolded just as China and the United States are trying to end a brutal trade war. Given Ms. Meng’s stature as a top Chinese executive and Huawei’s position as a leading Chinese technology company, her arrest complicates trade talks and the already rocky relationship between the two countries.

Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei and a daughter of the company’s founder. She has been detained in Canada since Dec. 1.
Ms. Meng was arrested on Dec. 1 while between flights in Vancouver, where she had arrived from Hong Kong and was heading to Mexico. Canadian authorities said they detained her at the request of the United States.
At the heart of the case that American authorities appear to be building against Ms. Meng is that she misled financial institutions into making transactions that violated United States sanctions against Iran.
Huawei used a Hong Kong company, Skycom Tech, to make transactions in Iran and do business with telecom companies there, in violation of American sanctions, Canadian prosecutors…
The post Huawei Executive’s Lawyers Fight for Bail Ahead of Extradition Decision appeared first on FeedBox.