Huawei exec back in China after being released in a deal

Huawei senior executive Meng Wanzhou returned home to China yesterday, after she was released in a deal involving China, Canada and the United States.

Shortly after US prosecutors announced that they would end a bank fraud case against her leading to the dropping of extradition proceedings against her in Canada, two Canadians detained in China were freed.

Ms Meng's release from house arrest in Vancouver drew a line under a case which has been a sore point in relations between Beijing and Washington for nearly three years.

But the deal opened up US President Joe Biden to criticism that his administration was capitulating to China and one of its top tech firms at the heart of a technological rivalry between the two countries.

Ms Meng left Vancouver on a government-chartered Air China flight and minutes after it entered Chinese airspace, the foreign ministry in Beijing released a statement hitting out at the US, denouncing her detention as "arbitrary".

"The facts have already fully proven that this is a political persecution of Chinese citizens with the aim of suppressing China's high-tech enterprises," ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said in a statement. "The allegations of 'fraud' against Ms Meng were purely fabricated," Ms Hua added.

But Beijing was silent on the release of the two Canadians - former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, who were welcomed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they arrived in Calgary. "There is going to be time for reflections and analysis in the coming days and weeks," Mr Trudeau told reporters.

Ms Meng was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on a US warrant in December 2018, and indicted on bank and wire fraud charges for allegedly misleading banking giant HSBC in 2013 about Huawei's business dealings in Iran.

The Chinese telecommunications giant, which was founded by Ms Meng's father Ren Zhengfei, has been at the centre of strategic competition between the world's two largest economies. The behemoth provides 5G telecommunications equipment for much of the world's developing economies but the US and its allies have raised questions about security, insisting that the firm offers the Chinese government a backdoor to data.

The firm and its founders have consistently denied such allegations but it has also resulted in several countries pulling Huawei products from their 5G superfast Internet roll-out plans.

Yesterday evening, hundreds of people waited for Ms Meng's flight to arrive at the Bao'an International Airport in Shenzhen, home to Huawei headquarters. Some held up banners while others sang patriotic songs.

State broadcaster CCTV had rolling coverage of Ms Meng's return, with the live feed showing dozens of Huawei employees, family and friends holding up Chinese flags and a banner to welcome her, cheering as she disembarked clad in a red dress and black kitten heels.

"After more than a thousand days of hardship, I am finally back in the embrace of the motherland," she said as she choked up.

Calling herself an "ordinary Chinese citizen" who has gone through the ordeal of being stuck in a foreign land, Ms Meng especially thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for his concern.

Across the city, screens flashed "welcome home" messages as buildings were lit up in colour. Hundreds of thousands more tuned into live streams of her return.

The Canadians were detained on charges of espionage just days after Ms Meng's arrest. During their time in detention, the men had scant access to their lawyers.

Ms Meng, on the other hand, was monitored at all hours by private security at her own expense and confined to her luxury Vancouver home at night.