China issued an advisory to its citizens Tuesday, urging them to “fully assess the risks of travel” to Canada after a Chinese executive was arrested in the North American country.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Canada recently “arbitrarily detained” a Chinese national, a reference to Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou.
Meng, the chief financial officer at Huawei, a global telecommunications conglomerate, was arrested on December 1 at the request of the United States.
Meng was charged with conspiring to defraud banks through transactions that violated U.S. sanctions against Iran. She denies the allegations.
Meng was released on bail in Vancouver and could be extradited to the U.S.
The travel advisory is the latest sign of escalating tensions between Canada and China.
Two Canadian citizens were detained in China after Meng’s arrest. And on Monday, a court in northeastern China sentenced Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg to death for drug smuggling in a hastily-arranged one-day retrial. Schellenberg had been sentenced to 15 years in prison back in November on the drug conviction.
China has denied the trials are linked to Meng’s situation.
The retrial prompted Canada to update its travel advisory for China, warning citizens to “exercise a high degree of caution in China due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws.”
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