If it would uphold national security and aid for trade negotiations with China to go smoothly, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would intervene in the Justice Department's case against Huawei CFO Meng Wangzhuo.
Trump told Reuters in an interview that if his intervention would mean the largest trade deal ever closed, then he would like to get involved in the case.
Meng was granted bail on Tuesday while she waits for a hearing for extradition case to the U.S.
Last week, China has called for the US and Canada to release Meng who was detained since Dec. 1 on extradition charges. Meng is also the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei.
Ian McLeod, a spokesman for Canada Justice Department, said Meng is facing extradition charges and was arrested following a U.S. investigation that allegedly found indications that Huawei sold networking gear to Iran, violating exports sanctions against Tehran that was implemented by Washington.
Networking gear is computer equipment that allows various communication devices to supply or exchange data among each other.
In a statement given to the press, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the Chinese government is calling for the United States and Canada to clarify the grounds for Weng's detention. At its current state where reasons on her arrest remain vague, the government fears that both western countries are breaching Weng's legitimate rights and interests.
Separately, Huawei said in a statement that the authorities who knew about the arrest have provided the company "very little" information regarding charges against its CFO. The company said that Meng was not guilty of any wrongdoing and that would compel U.S. and Canada to eventually reach a just conclusion.
The company, with the most presence globally, compared to other tech giants in the Asian powerhouse, maintained that it complies with applicable laws and regulates where it operates. And, for any business operation it conducts, it takes into account all applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of the UN, U.S., and EU.
As of now, US authorities speaking on the arrest have similarly asserted that the CFO breached the US Iranian sanctions and no one has yet to offer specific details on why he or she arrived at the allegations.
U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, member of the Senate Armed Services and Banking Committee, said his country was grateful to Canada that it arrested the CFO for "breaking U.S. sanctions on Iran."
The news on Huawei CFO arrest stirred renewed fears about the repercussions of the China-US trade war.
Bloomberg reported that U.S. equity futures and Asian stocks dove after the news. Shares of suppliers for Huawei fell, including shares of Sunny Optical Technology Group Co., Largan Precision Co., and MediaTek Inc.
In its report, Bloomberg hinted that the Huawei CFO arrest may in some manner is America's strategy to target Huawei which is leading China's dominance in technology and the country's desire to get rid of its reliance on other countries' technological expertise.
Tencent and Alibaba may be known for their billions market valuation but Huawei has managed to perform on a global scale, Neil Campling, an analyst at Mirabaud Securities Ltd., told Bloomberg.
Campling believed that it is the race toward 5G dominance that is at greater play behind the arrest. He added that Meng's arrest may be an indication that the U.S. and its allies are now on the heels of China's booming technology IP revolution.
Huawei CFO arrest happened just as the Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump agreed on a 90-day ceasefire of the escalating trade war.
