Ministry demands immediate release of Huawei's CFO

The Meng Wanzhou case is a grave political incident that revealed Washington's purpose of harming Huawei and other Chinese high-tech companies, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Monday, adding that Canada has been acting in the process as an accomplice of the US.

Zhao made the remarks after new court documents showed the coverup by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's involvement in the arrest of Meng, chief financial executive of Huawei, in 2018.

The documents, released on Friday, disclosed a memo in which the CSIS said Canada was requested by the FBI to arrest Meng when she arrived on a flight to Vancouver later that same day, Reuters reported.

"The Chinese government is determined to uphold the legal and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and companies," Zhao told reporters at a regular news conference in Beijing, demanding the immediate release of Meng.

Also, the spokesman denied any relation between the recent death sentence given to an Australian citizen on drug smuggling charges with China-Australia relations.

On Wednesday, the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Karm Gillespie to death for drug smuggling and ordered the confiscation of all of his personal property. Gillespie was arrested in 2013 with more than 7.5 kg of methamphetamine in his check-in luggage while attempting to board an international flight at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangdong province, according to media reports.

"China's judicial institutions have proceeded according to Chinese law and in an independent manner," Zhao said, asking the Australian side to respect China's judicial sovereignty.

According to Zhao, drug crimes are considered as serious crimes around the world and the death penalty for major drug crimes will help to deter and prevent such crimes.