Lawyers of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou have applied to a Canadian court for a stay in the proceedings for her extradition to the United States, Reuters quoted documents released on Thursday as saying.
Noting that U.S. President Donald Trump and other senior members of the administration intend to use Meng "as a bargaining chip in a trade dispute," Meng's lawyers said that Trump's stated willingness to intervene in the case is "offensive and ominous."
Meng's lawyers also said that the United States misled Canada about the evidence in Meng's case, calling the omission "far below the expected standard of diligence, candour and accuracy," according to the documents.
Meng was arrested on Dec. 1, 2018 at Vancouver International Airport at the request of the United States, which is seeking her extradition on fraud charges. Both Meng and Huawei have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in May that China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to a Canadian court's ruling on the case against Meng, and has made solemn representations to Canada on the issue.
Last month, Zhao said that the case is a "serious political incident," which has revealed the U.S.' political calculations to purposefully suppress Huawei and other Chinese tech companies.
On June 15, Meng's lawyers filed a memo of arguments with the Supreme Court of British Columbia to fight extradition to the United States on bank fraud charges.
