The United States on Monday (local time) filed criminal charges against Chinese telecommunications equipment company Huawei on grounds of stealing intellectual property.
The filing of charges come two days ahead of a proposed meeting between officials from the US and China here regarding trade relations between the two countries.
The US also formally placed a request for the extradition of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Vancouver in December in line with directions issued by the US.
According to The Hill, Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker said two separate grand juries in Seattle and New York returned indictments against affiliates, subsidiaries, and executives of Huawei.
Apart from alleged theft of intellectual property, Whitaker said the Chinese conglomerate violated U.S. sanctions orders.
Last week, Canada's ambassador to China John McCallum stepped down from his post over his remarks on the US' request to extradite Meng.
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McCullum's comments cast shadows of doubts over whether Canada was in opposition to the US' charges against Meng and if the Canadian government was sending different messages in Ottawa and Beijing.
Meng was arrested on December 1 last year on alleged charges of violating the sanctions imposed by the US on Iran. She was later released on bail
The Huawei CFO is slated to face court charges on February 6.
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