Marilyn Nieves/iStock(NEW YORK) — Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou is scheduled to return to Canadian court for a procedural hearing on U.S. criminal charges on Wednesday amid increasing tension between Beijing and Washington.
U.S. prosecutors have charged Meng, chief financial officer and deputy chairwoman of the Chinese tech giant Huawei, her company Huawei Technologies and two Huawei affiliates — Huawei Device USA and Skycom Tech — with 13 counts related to bank and wire fraud pertaining to trade practices with Iran. She currently faces extradition to the United States.
“The purpose of the hearing is to deal with pre-extradition hearing procedural matters. No date has yet been set for the commencement of the extradition hearing,” Bruce Cohen, a spokesperson for the British Columbia Supreme Court, told ABC News.
Wednesday’s hearing in Vancouver is scheduled for 10 a.m. local time.
The U.S. has charged Meng with bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracies to commit bank and wire fraud, Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker announced in January. Huawei and Skycom are charged with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, among other charges. Huawei and Huawei USA are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice related to a grand jury investigation in the Eastern District of New York.
The charges relate to an alleged long-running scheme by Meng and other Huawei officials to deceive global banks and the U.S. government in order to do business with Iran while circumventing American sanctions, U.S. authorities said.
Meng’s case is at the center of increasing international tensions. President Donald Trump on Monday again threatened to hike tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports as part of a trade war that he waged against China over intellectual property rights and a trade imbalance — sending global markets into a panic.
Meanwhile, Beijing has accused two Canadians of spying and detained them without access to their families or lawyers. China has also sentenced a third man to death on drug charges since Meng’s arrest in Canada.
Meng is the daughter of Huawei’s 74-year-old founder, Ren Zhengfei. The company has denied violating U.S. sanction laws.
Neither Huawei nor Meng’s lawyer responded to requests for comment from ABC News.
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