Huawei row: China asks US to stop 'unreasonable bashing' of Chinese companies

Beijing (China), Jan 29 (ANI): China on Tuesday expressed serious concern at the charges filed by the United States against Chinese telecom giant Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, and urged Washington to stop its "unreasonable bashing" of Chinese companies.
"China is highly concerned about the US Department of Justice's charges against Huawei and its Vice Chairman and CFO Ms. Meng Wanzhou," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang at a briefing in Beijing.
He said that for some time the US has been using national power to "tarnish and crack down on specific Chinese companies in an attempt to strangle their lawful and legitimate operations".
"Behind such practices are deep political intentions and manipulations. We strongly urge the US to stop its unreasonable bashing on Chinese companies including Huawei, and treat them objectively and fairly," Geng said.
On the US seeking extradition of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, the spokesperson said that the US and Canada had "abused their bilateral extradition agreement" and taken "compulsory measures" against a Chinese citizen "for no reason".
He urged the US to "immediately withdraw" its arrest warrant for Meng, refrain from making a formal extradition request, and "stop going further down the wrong path". The spokesperson also urged Canada to immediately release Meng and "stop risking its own interests for the benefit of the US".
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced 13 criminal charges against Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, and its affiliates in the U.S. and Hong Kong.
Meng is currently on bail in Vancouver.
Late on Monday, Canada's Justice Department confirmed that they had received a formal extradition request from the U.S.
Acting U.S. attorney general Matthew Whitaker said the 13 counts of bank and wire fraud relate to Huawei's claim that its affiliate operating in Iran, Skycom, was a separate, unrelated company. As a result of that claim, it was able to borrow money from U.S. banks.
Skycom, which is based in Hong Kong did business in Iran on behalf of Huawei, he alleged.
The Chinese reaction comes hours after the US on Monday (local time) filed criminal charges against Huawei on grounds of stealing intellectual property.
The filing of charges comes ahead of a proposed meeting between officials from the US and China to discuss bilateral trade relations. (ANI)