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Chinese ambassador Lu Shaye warns ‘back-stabbing’ Canada to stop rallying allies in row over detainees

  • Ambassador Lu Shaye warns of repercussions if Canada bars Huawei from its new 5G network
  • Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland has said she intends to use next week’s Davos meeting to rally opposition to Beijing’s detention of two Canadians

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Chinese Ambassador to Canada Lu Shaye, centre, meets with journalists at the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa on Thursday. Photo: AP

China’s ambassador to Canada warned the Canadian government on Thursday to stop recruiting international support in its feud with China and threatened retaliation if Ottawa bans Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei for security reasons.

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Ambassador Lu Shaye said at a press event at the embassy in Ottawa that last month’s arrest of Huawei Technologies executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhou was an act of “back-stabbing” by a friend and he warned of repercussions if Canada bars the firm from its new 5G network.
Chinese Ambassador to Canada Lu Shaye meets with media at the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa on Thursday. Photo: AP
Chinese Ambassador to Canada Lu Shaye meets with media at the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa on Thursday. Photo: AP

He said it would be a bad idea for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to use next week’s World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, to press for support against China.

Freeland has said the detention of two Canadians as part of that fight will be at the top of her agenda in Davos and didn’t back down from that after hearing about the ambassador’s remark.

Sarcasm is China’s latest weapon in battle with Canada over detainees

The arrest of Meng while she was travelling through the Vancouver airport on December 1 created a growing diplomatic rift. Meng is the chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant Huawei and the daughter of its founder. The US wants her extradited to face charges that she committed fraud by misleading banks about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran.

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