DAVOS, Switzerland -- The chief executive of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei on Tuesday said he was ready for the United States to escalate a "campaign" against the firm this year but insisted it would not have a significant effect on business.
The comments by Huawei chief executive and founder Ren Zhengfei to business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos come amid a bitter court fight in Canada over a US demand to extradite Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is his eldest daughter.
Huawei, the global leader in telecom networking equipment, has also been effectively banned by the United States from working with American firms on the grounds that it poses a national security threat -– an accusation the company has consistently denied.
"This year, the US might escalate their campaign against Huawei, but I think the impact on Huawei business will not be very significant," Ren told a session at Davos.
He said the company had invested intensely in protecting itself and was well-prepared this year.
"That's why we could withstand the first round of attack. In the year 2020, since we already have this experience from last year, we are more confidant that we can survive, even further attacks," he added.
USED TO BEING NUMBER ONE
Meng Wanzhou went to court on Monday to fight extradition to the United States, with her lawyers calling the accusations against her "fiction".
The US alleges Meng lied to HSBC Bank about Huawei's relationship with its Iran-based affiliate Skycom, putting the bank at risk of violating US sanctions against Tehran.
Meng has denied the allegations. She has been out on bail, living in one of her two Vancouver mansions for the past year.
Ren has previously suggested that the case was part of a US plot to crush Huawei, seeing it as a security risk.
Huawei said in December that "survival" was its top priority after announcing 2019 sales were expected to fall short of projections as a result of US sanctions.
Washington has banned US companies from selling equipment to Huawei, locking out the smartphone giant from access to Google's Android operating system.
"The United States… it is used to being the world number one and if someone is better than them, they might not feel comfortable," said Ren.
He said Huawei "used to be" an admirer of the United States and had notably been inspired by American management systems.
"From that perspective, the US should not be overly concerned about Huawei and Huawei's position in the world."
Agence France-Presse
Lawyers for Huawei Technologies Co Ltd asked a Canadian court to immediately stay proceedings seeking to extradite the company's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou to the United States, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.
Huawei spokesman Benjamin Howes said in an email that the company believes the extradition fails to meet the Canadian standard of double criminality.
The standard means the alleged conduct for which Meng was arrested in 2018 has to be illegal in both countries for her to be extradited.
Meng, 47, was arrested at the Vancouver International Airport on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States, where she is charged with bank fraud and accused of misleading the bank HSBC about Huawei Technologies' business in Iran. She has said she is innocent and is fighting extradition. Howes said the company is arguing that because Canada did not have sanctions against Iran at the time Canadian officials authorized commencing with the extradition process, double criminality cannot be met. The application "doesn't seek to challenge whether the facts behind the logic of this charge are true or not," Howes said, noting that the company would challenge this during a sufficiency hearing to be held in September 2020.
Canada's federal justice ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Meng's lawyers may have a sound argument, but it's premature, said Vancouver-based extradition lawyer Gary Botting who is not involved in the case.
"They're jumping the gun a bit, because the whole notion of a full extradition hearing is to determine whether or not there is dual criminality. The judge is bound to say, 'Hurry up and wait," Botting said.
Meng's arrest has strained China's relations with both the United States and Canada. China detained two Canadians - Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, and businessman Michael Spavor - just days after Meng's arrest. Spavor and Kovrig are still being held in China, despite diplomatic efforts on Canada's part to get them released.
Meng's lawyers say the United States is using the CFO for economic and political gain, noting that after her arrest, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would intervene if it would help close a trade deal.
Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, spent 10 days in jail in December but was then released on C$10 million ($7.5 million) bail and is living in one of her two multi-million-dollar homes in Vancouver.
Meng and her lawyers returned to a British Columbia court last month, requesting additional documents pertaining to Meng's arrest at the Vancouver airport. Meng's argument is part of a broader strategy to prove that her arrest was illegal and violated her rights according to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
If Canadian officials abused their authority, her lawyers say, the extradition proceedings should be halted.
Her extradition hearing is set to begin on Jan. 20, 2020.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
OTTAWA -- Canada is leaning on the United States to help settle a dispute with China, which has started to block imports of vital Canadian commodities amid a dispute over a detained Huawei executive.
In a sign of increasing frustration at what it sees as a lackluster US response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is signaling it could withhold cooperation on major issues.
China has upped the pressure on Canada in recent weeks over the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, arrested last December on a US warrant. It halted Canadian canola imports and last week suspended the permits of two major pork producers.
After Meng's Vancouver arrest, Chinese police also detained two Canadian citizens.
Beijing is refusing to allow a Canadian trade delegation to visit, forcing officials to use video conference calls as they try to negate a major threat to commodity exports.
With no cards to play against China without risking significant economic damage, Canada has launched a full-court press in Washington, which is negotiating its own trade deal with Beijing.
The results have been meager.
"It's a very challenging situation. When we raise it with the Americans they just say, 'Dealing with the Chinese is tough'," said a Canadian government source.
"It's also not clear who we should be targeting since you never know who is up and who is down in the administration at any given point," said the source, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter.
Among those the Canadians approached are Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Republican Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
The State Department said it was "concerned" by the canola ban. In March, the Foreign Relations Committee responded to Canada's concerns by passing a bipartisan resolution supporting the country.
Canada says the United States is obliged to help, given that the US arrest warrant triggered the crisis with Beijing.
US negotiators have rejected Chinese proposals to include the Huawei issue in their current trade deal discussions, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
Canada's US ambassador David MacNaughton, who noted Canada has assisted the current US administration on diplomatic efforts with Venezuela, Latvia and NATO, strongly suggested future requests for aid would not be met so positively unless Washington cooperated more.
"How do you go to canola farmers and relatives of the two (Canadian detainees) and say 'Well, actually, notwithstanding all of this, we're going to try and do whatever we can to help?'" he said.
"It makes it much more difficult in public opinion terms for the prime minister to have permission to do some of the things that would be in both countries' interests."
MacNaughton, who has cabinet-level status in Trudeau's government, played a key role in negotiating a new North American trade deal last year.
Relations between Trump and Trudeau are formal at best. Officials in Ottawa have not forgotten that the president blew up last year's Group of Seven summit in Canada by describing Trudeau as very dishonest and weak.
"At the political level, this administration doesn't like us very much," said a second well-placed source.
Intertwined with the China crisis is a second problem: the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum that Trump imposed last year on national security grounds.
Meng, who is under house arrest at her Vancouver mansion, next appears in court on May 8 ahead of an extradition hearing, in a process that could take years.
MacNaughton said part of Canada's frustration also stems from a lack of information on US intentions toward Meng. Trump has previously suggested the charges against her could be dropped if that would help the trade talks.
"What we've said is, 'We'd like to have a little better sense of what your plans are in terms of dealing with her. Are you engaged in negotiations over a plea deal?'," he said. "We're completely in the dark."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
BEIJING/OTTAWA -- China's government and its leading smartphone maker, Huawei Technologies Ltd, stepped up pressure on Monday on the US and Canadian governments in a dispute over trade and telecoms technology that has ensnared Huawei's CFO, who faces US criminal charges.
China on Monday accused detained Canadian citizen Michael Kovrig of stealing state secrets passed on to him from another detained Canadian, businessman Michael Spavor, in a move likely to increase tension between Ottawa and Beijing.
The telecom gear maker is also preparing a lawsuit against the US government over a law that restricts its market access.
It was the latest escalation of an unprecedented crisis for Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker and No. 2 manufacturer of smartphones, as Washington calls on governments around the world to stop using its gear, particularly in the next generation of telecommunication networks, known as 5G.
Spavor, a business consultant with deep ties to Pyongyang, had been trying to drum up international interest in investing in North Korean economic projects. He and Kovrig, a former diplomat, were picked up in December, shortly after Canada arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who faces extradition to the United States.
The Communist Party's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission said Kovrig had often entered China using an ordinary passport and business visas, "stealing and spying on sensitive Chinese information and intelligence via a contact in China."
"We are obviously very concerned with this position that China has taken," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said about the accusations on Monday. "We’ve been engaging and standing up for the two Canadians who have been arbitrarily detained by China from the very beginning."
Lawyers for Meng are suing the Canadian government, its border agency and federal police, alleging their client was detained, searched and interrogated for three hours in violation of her constitutional rights.
Canada arrested Meng in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States, which has charged her with bank and wire fraud to violate American sanctions against Iran by doing business through a subsidiary it tried to hide.
HUAWEI TO SUE
In another escalation of the trans-Pacific dispute, Huawei plans to announce a lawsuit against the US government on Thursday on grounds related to a defense bill, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Huawei will challenge an addition to the US National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed last year, which controlled US government contracts with Chinese companies and strengthened the role of the panel that reviews foreign investment proposals. Beijing has condemned the NDAA act as targeting China.
Trump last year signed the law that limits Huawei and ZTE Corp's access to U.S. government and military contracts. That is part of an all-out US effort to close the two companies' access to not only the US market but major telecoms markets around the world where 5G networks are being designed and built.
US lawmakers introduced bills earlier this year that would ban the sale of US chips or other components to Chinese telecommunications companies that violate US sanctions or export control laws.
US officials have alleged Chinese telecom manufacturers are producing equipment that allows their government to spy on users abroad, including Western researchers working on leading-edge technologies. Beijing and the Chinese companies have repeatedly denied such allegations.
Trump is considering declaring a national emergency that would bar US companies from using telecommunications equipment made by Huawei and ZTE, three sources familiar with the situation told Reuters in December.
The Justice Department has also charged Huawei with stealing robotic technology from T-Mobile US Inc.
Trump said in February he may or may not include Huawei and ZTE in the trade deal being negotiated with China. Trump told reporters at the White House that US officials were not talking about dropping charges against Huawei.
Also on Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he thought his country and China were "on the cusp" of a deal to end their trade war.
HUAWEI CFO IN LIMBO
Meng, who is out on bail, is due to appear in a Vancouver court on Wednesday, when a date will be set for her extradition hearing. Ottawa rejects Chinese calls to release Meng, saying it cannot interfere with the judiciary.
The Canadian government approved her extradition proceedings on Friday. China, whose relations with Canada have deteriorated badly over the affair, denounced the decision and repeated previous demands for Meng's release.
It could be years before Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, is sent to the United States since Canada's slow-moving justice system allows many decisions to be appealed.
A final decision will likely come down to the federal justice minister, who will face the choice of angering the United States by rejecting the extradition bid, or China by accepting it.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
BEIJING -- The founder of Chinese telecom giant Huawei has hit back at US efforts to blacklist the company, saying defiantly that the world cannot do without Huawei and its "more advanced" technology.
"There's no way the US can crush us," Ren Zhengfei said in an interview with the BBC.
"The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced."
Ren, 74, also denounced as "politically motivated" the December arrest of his daughter, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who is accused of violating US sanctions against Iran.
"We object to this," he said.
"But now that we've gone down this path, we'll let the courts settle it."
The normally media-shy Huawei founder has been forced to step into the limelight in recent months as the company has come under increasing pressure over espionage concerns and the US-led campaign to persuade other countries to ban its technology.
Last year, security concerns prompted Australia to ban Huawei equipment from its future 5G network.
New Zealand has also blocked its largest telecom carrier from using Huawei technology for the next generation network, while the Czech Republic has reportedly excluded it from a 20-million-euro ($22 million) tender to build a tax portal.
US prosecutors also are charging Huawei with stealing trade secrets, saying it offered rewards to employees for stealing technology from other rivals.
Ren shrugged off the growing pressure.
"If the lights go out in the West, the East will still shine," he said. "America doesn't represent the world."
"Even if they persuade more countries not to use us temporarily, we can always downsize and become smaller."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
The United States will proceed with the formal extradition from Canada of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, Canada's ambassador to the United States told the Globe and Mail, in a move certain to ratchet up tensions with China.
David MacNaughton, in an interview with the Canadian newspaper published on Monday, said the US has told Canada it will request Meng's extradition, but he did not say when the request will be made. The deadline for filing is Jan. 30, or 60 days after Meng was arrested on Dec. 1 in Vancouver.
Meng, the daughter of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested at the request of the United States over alleged violations of US sanctions on Iran. She was released on bail last month and is due in court in Vancouver on Feb. 6.
Relations between China and Canada turned frosty after the arrest, with China detaining two Canadian citizens and sentencing to death a Canadian man previously found guilty of drug smuggling.
The Chinese firm, the world's biggest maker of telecommunications equipment, said it had no comment on ongoing legal proceedings when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday. A US Justice Department spokesman said, "We will comment through our filings."
The Canadian Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
Canada is one of over 100 countries with which the United States has extradition treaties. Once a formal request is received, a Canadian court must determine within 30 days if there is sufficient evidence to support extradition, and Canada's Minister of Justice must give a formal order.
In an article published on Monday, a former Canadian spy chief said Canada should ban Huawei from supplying equipment for next-generation telecoms networks, while Canada's government is studying any security implications.
Some of Canada's allies such as the United States and Australia have already imposed restrictions on using Huawei equipment, citing the risk of it being used for espionage.
Huawei has repeatedly said such concerns are unfounded, while China's ambassador to Canada last week said there would be repercussions if Ottawa blocked Huawei.
In Monday's interview, MacNaughton said he had complained to the United States that Canada was suffering from Chinese revenge for an arrest made at the request of the US.
"We don't like that it is our citizens who are being punished," the Globe and Mail cited MacNaughton as saying. "(The Americans) are the ones seeking to have the full force of American law brought against (Ms. Meng) and yet we are the ones who are paying the price. Our citizens are."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau previously said China was arbitrarily using the death penalty and called on world leaders to raise concerns about the detained Canadians.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
BEIJING - A former Canadian diplomat detained in China is being denied legal representation and is not allowed to turn the lights off at night, people familiar with the situation said, offering new details on the highly charged and closely watched case.
China last week detained 2 Canadians - Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat and an adviser with the International Crisis Group (ICG), and businessman Michael Spavor - after Canadian police arrested Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, on December 1.
Canada arrested Meng at the request of the United States, which is engaged in a trade war with China. Meng faces extradition to the United States to face fraud charges which carry a maximum sentence of 30 years jail for each charge.
China has given only vague details of why they have detained the 2 Canadians, saying they are suspected of engaging in activities that endangered China's security, and has not drawn a direct link to Meng's arrest.
Canada has said the detentions are unacceptable and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said China should free the men. ICG President Robert Malley also called for Kovrig's release on Saturday.
The sources familiar with Kovrig's case said the Canadian was taken away around 10 p.m. on Monday last week while on a street in Beijing.
China formally notified the Canadian government of Kovrig's detention 2 days later, at 4 p.m. on Wednesday last week. Canada only gained consular access to him at a police station on Friday last week, when he was visited for half an hour by the Canadian ambassador and 2 other Canadian diplomats, the sources said.
He is not allowed to apply for bail and not allowed to see a lawyer, said one source, adding Kovrig is questioned every morning, afternoon and evening, not allowed to turn the lights off at night, and is being held at an undisclosed location.
He is also only allowed one consular visit a month and is not allowed to see family or loved ones.
He is physically alright but tired and stressed, but physically he does not appear mistreated, the source said.
Two other people familiar with the case corroborated the details.
A third person said Kovrig was being confined to a single room, but despite the stress remains lucid.
The comments were made in recent days. All the sources requested anonymity citing the sensitivity of the situation.
China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has said that the lawful rights of both men were being fully protected.
China's Ministry of State Security, which is leading the investigation into Kovrig, has no publicly available contact details.
"Our previous comments on this case stand," said Adam Austen, a spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.
The Canadian government has said several times it saw no explicit link between the arrest of Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, and the detentions of Kovrig and Spavor.
But Beijing-based Western diplomats and former Canadian diplomats have said they believed the detentions were a "tit-for-tat" reprisal by China.
A Canadian court last week granted Meng bail.
If a Canadian judge rules the case against Meng is strong enough, Canada's justice minister must next decide whether to extradite her to the United States. If so, Meng would face US charges of conspiracy to defraud multiple financial institutions.
China on Thursday said a third, female Canadian is undergoing "administrative punishment" for working illegally, after Canada's government confirmed the detention.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MONTREAL, Canada -- The arrest of a top Chinese tech executive at the request of the US has snared Canada in the middle of a major international dispute involving Beijing and Washington.
Ottawa confirmed on Thursday that China had detained two Canadian nationals under what Beijing has said is suspicion of threatening its national security.
That came nearly two weeks after the arrest in Vancouver of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of telecoms giant Huawei, a move that infuriated Beijing.
The resulting crisis is to blame on "a trade war between China and the United States," Fred Bild, a former Canadian diplomat and Asian studies professor at the University of Montreal, told AFP.
"Washington is using Canada in its trade battle with China," he said.
The detention of the two Canadian nationals have fueled suspicions that China is retaliating against Canada's arrest of Meng.
She was released on US$7.5 million bail by a court in Vancouver on Tuesday pending a US extradition hearing.
Beijing had warned of "grave consequences" if she was not immediately freed.
Bild points to the exceptional circumstances of her arrest, saying Washington has been content in the past to impose fines on foreign companies found guilty of violating US sanctions on Iran.
Meng faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
But US President Donald Trump said he could intervene in the US case against her if it helps seal a trade deal with China -- statements that displeased Canada.
'A pawn'
Trump's comments have "really complicated" the situation for Canada, according to Bild.
"It's sometimes difficult to persuade the Chinese that we are not acting on behalf of the United States. And this has reinforced notions that Canada is just a pawn."
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Wednesday indirectly criticized the statements by the US president.
"Our extradition partners should not seek to politicize the extradition process or use it for ends other than the pursuit of justice and following the rule of law," she told a press conference.
"Canada is caught in the middle of a China-US tech war," said Paul Evans, a global affairs professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
The United States has been pressuring Canada for several months to ban Huawei equipment from its future 5G cellular networks over security concerns.
Washington fears that Beijing may use the technology to disrupt US military communications.
And the Trump administration sees Huawei as a potential Trojan horse, a mistrust fueled by the fact that the group's founder, Ren Zhengfei, is a former Chinese army officer. He is also Meng's father.
Canada is the only member of the US-led Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which also includes Australia, Britain and New Zealand, that has not shut out Huawei from 5G rollouts, noted Bild.
The crisis comes as Canada's holding of the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven industrialized nations comes to a close and as Ottawa looked to China to diversify its trade, which is now heavily reliant on the US market.
Instead of formally starting free trade talk with Beijing, Canada now faces threats of "trade sanctions," according to state-run Chinese media.
Experts quoted by the Chinese tabloid Global Times, a mouthpiece of China's communist government, also raised the prospects of a decline in the number of visits by Chinese tourists and businessmen to Canada.
Since Beijing approved Canada as a tourist destination for its citizens in 2010, the number of Chinese tourists has risen by 20 percent per year to almost 700,000 in 2017, and Ottawa hoped to double the figure by 2021.
"But for now, Canadians are standing alone at the edge of an abyss, with a Chinese noose around our necks and American shivs sticking out of our backs," said an editorial in Canada's National Post.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SYDNEY -- Asian markets faced a fraught session on Wednesday as conflicting reports deepened confusion over Sino-US trade, while sterling was battered by talk of an imminent party coup against British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Investors also had a wary eye on events in Strasbourg, where a lone gunman shot dead at least four people and wounded 11 others near a Christmas market.
The European Parliament, which is sitting in Strasbourg this week, was put into lockdown.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan firmed 0.09 percent in sporadic early trading.
Nikkei futures hinted at a modest opening bounce after two days of losses, while E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 edged up 0.07 percent.
Sterling slid on reports Conservative lawmakers could vote on a no confidence motion in May's leadership as soon as Wednesday night.
The political ructions come a day after her decision to delay a vote in parliament on her Brexit deal for fear of a rout angered many in her Conservative Party.
The news sent the pound reeling to a 2-month trough of $1.2484, a loss of 1.9 percent in just 2 sessions.
The euro climbed to 90.62 pence, even as it eased on the dollar to $1.1318. The dollar was being viewed as the best of a bad bunch and rose to 97.466 on a basket of currencies.
"The market is concerned that May could be replaced by a Brexit-supporter, increasing the chance of a no-deal scenario," said Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at NAB.
"Bottom line: there is great uncertainty about whether Theresa May can survive as PM and what the prospects are for a general election, new referendum or a hard Brexit."
'CHOP-FEST'
Sentiment had got a brief lift on Tuesday from reports China was considering cutting import tariffs on American-made cars to 15 percent from the current 40 percent.
Yet there were also reports the US would release evidence this week detailing Chinese hacking and economic espionage.
"Even if this (auto) step is taken it just removes what was a retaliatory measure to begin with," noted ANZ economist David Plank. "Moreover, markets are still be nervous about the evolving Huawei situation."
"Whatever the case, market price action is somewhat of a chop-fest, right now, as it swings around on each new headline."
The US State Department expressed concern on Tuesday about reports a Canadian citizen has been detained in China following the arrest of Huawei Technologies' chief financial officer in Canada.
Markets were also jolted when President Donald Trump threatened to shut down the government over funding for a wall he has promised to build on the southern border with Mexico.
Such cross currents left Wall Street mixed, with the Dow down 0.22 percent and the S&P 500 0.04 percent, while the Nasdaq added 0.16 percent.
Investors were looking ahead to the US consumer price report later on Wednesday where an expected slowdown in headline inflation would only reinforce speculation of fewer rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
Wagers on a more restrained Fed helped gold steady near a 5-month peak of $1,243.11 an ounce.
Oil bounced a little after industry data showed a surprisingly large draw on stockpiles.
Brent futures added 54 cents to $60.51 a barrel, while US crude rose 97 cents to $51.97.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
BEIJING - Canada's arrest of a top executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei has put the country in the crosshairs of Beijing, which has warned of "grave consequences" over the case.
China's foreign ministry issued the warning after it summoned Canada's ambassador on Saturday and called for the release of Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who was held on a US warrant on charges related to alleged sanctions-breaking dealings with Iran.
While the ministry did not spell out what the consequences might be, Beijing has long used economic measures to punish countries that offend it.
AFP takes a look at what Canada could face, and what other nations have endured in the past:
China's state-run Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, cited experts as saying the consequences may include trade sanctions, a degradation in bilateral ties and fewer visits to Canada by Chinese tourists and businesspeople.
Canada exported goods worth US$18.2 billion to China last year, and it would be "very easy" for Beijing to shut down key energy and agricultural products with bans or boycotts, said Shaun Rein, the founder of Shanghai-based China Market Research Group.
The spat could also endanger exploratory talks on a free trade agreement between Ottawa and Beijing that have been ongoing for two years.
"I think the free trade agreement is definitely in a precarious situation, because Canada needs it with China more than China needs it with Canada, economically," Rein said.
China could also hit back by detaining an executive from a large Canadian company, Rein added.
Last year, after Seoul agreed to deploy a US missile defense system that Beijing considered a threat to its own military capability, Beijing banned Chinese tour groups from going to South Korea.
South Korean retail giant Lotte Group, which provided land for the THAAD system, became a target of Chinese nationalist sentiment, as online shoppers and internet trolls launched a boycott and protestors gathered in front of stores, costing Lotte hundreds of millions of dollars.
Several Chinese companies also joined the boycott and Chinese authorities closed nearly two dozen Lotte retail stores across the country, citing safety regulations.
In 2010, China froze ties with Norway and suspended talks on a bilateral free trade deal after the Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
The spat hit Norway's salmon producers hard, with exports to China plummeting in following years.
Relations returned to normal six years later, after the Norwegian government said that it fully respects China's development path and social system, and pledged not to support actions that undermine Beijing's core interests.
More recently, Taiwan has experienced a sharp drop in mainland tourists as cross-strait relations have worsened under President Tsai Ing-wen, whose party traditionally advocates independence from China.
In contrast with a boom in mainland tourists under her Beijing-friendly predecessor Ma Ying-jeou, the island suffered a 42 percent drop after Tsai took office in 2016.
Tourism operators attributed the decline to a more negative portrayal of Taiwan in Chinese media, along with scaled-back promotion of tours by major Chinese travel agencies.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK -- Stock markets around the world sank on Thursday as the arrest of a top Chinese technology executive threatened to strain an already brittle US-China trade relationship, while oil prices fell after OPEC delayed an output decision.
The arrest of smartphone maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Canada for extradition to the United States came as Washington and Beijing prepared for talks aimed at resolving a bitter trade spat.
Sources familiar with the probe told Reuters Meng was arrested as part of a US investigation of an alleged scheme to use the global banking system to evade US sanctions against Iran.
Wall Street tumbled in early trade before paring some losses by the close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 79.4 points, or 0.32 percent, to 24,947.67, the S&P 500 lost 4.11 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,695.95 and the Nasdaq Composite added 29.83 points, or 0.42 percent, to 7,188.26.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 3.09 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 1.05 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 2.04 percent lower, while Japan's Nikkei lost 1.91 percent.
"Clearly, the Huawei CFO arrest was the individual catalyst that caused today’s moves lower," said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide.
Canadian authorities late on Wednesday said they had arrested Meng, also the daughter of Huawei's founder, on Dec. 1, the same day that US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met at the G20 summit in Argentina.
The world's two economic superpowers had agreed on a 90-day trade truce period to hammer out a more permanent agreement, which sent global stock markets soaring on Monday. Equities reversed course the next day as uncertainty grew that the world's two largest economies could, in fact, find common ground.
"The potential slowdown in global growth is also something the markets are pricing in," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR in New York.
Earlier this week, shorter-dated yields rose above medium-dated yields for the first time since early 2008, which fanned fears about a US recession in the coming months and also sent Wall Street shares sliding.
US Treasury yields fell, with 10-year yields hitting three-month lows, as worries about US-China trade and Brexit spurred safe-haven bids.
A US derivatives regulator warned on Thursday that uncertainty over Britain’s exit from the European Union is having a "substantial" impact on some US entities and markets.
Additionally, traders scaled back expectations on the number of rate hikes the Federal Reserve would implement amid weakening economic data and market volatility.
US jobs data is due on Friday. If the figures show any serious weakness, markets are likely to react, said Shuji Shirota, HSBC's head of macro economic strategy.
The US dollar fell against major peers on lower Treasury yields and as traders scaled back rate hike expectations.
"The problem for the dollar is really a decline in US yields and fading Fed expectations," said Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto.
The euro was 0.26 percent higher against the dollar at $1.1373.
Gold prices, which move inversely with the dollar, held near a five-month peak as the greenback and equities slipped.
Oil prices fell nearly 3 percent in choppy trading after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ended a meeting without making a decision on crude output.
OPEC met in Vienna to decide on production policy in coordination with other countries, including Russia, Oman and Kazakhstan. The organization said it had agreed on a tentative deal to cut oil output but had not yet come up with a final figure.
US crude settled down 2.65 percent at $51.49 per barrel and Brent was last at $60.06, down 2.44 percent on the day.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
