Beijing: Canada said it will allow a US extradition request for an executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei to face charges over possible dealings with Iran to proceed, a decision that has been slammed by Beijing.
The Department of Justice had said that officials made the decision after a diligent review of the case against Meng Wangzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Ltd., the biggest global maker of network equipment for phone and internet companies.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Saturday saying that it "deplores and firmly opposes" Canada's move.
However Canada maintains that it was following the its country's laws.
Meng's Dec. 1 arrest at the Vancouver airport set off a diplomatic furore and strained Canadian relations with China.
Beijing has accused Washington of a politically motivated attempt to hurt a potential competitor to US technology vendors.
Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, is accused of lying to banks about the company's dealings with Iran in violation of US trade sanctions.
She is free on bail in Vancouver and is due in court on Wednesday, when a date for an extradition hearing will be set.
The decision to proceed is a formality and allows a judge to hear arguments on whether to grant the US request.
A decision to extradite ultimately must be approved by Canada's justice minister.
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(With inputs from APTN)
