The US Justice Department said on Tuesday that it would continue to pursue the extradition of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.
At the same time, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said that Canada hadn't asked the US to drop the case against Meng.
Earlier in the day, it was revealed that the United States would soon send an official request to Canada to extradite Meng. The deadline for filing the official request is January 30 — 60 days after Meng was arrested in Vancouver at the request of the US authorities on suspicions of violating Washington's anti-Iran sanctions.
The arrest was decried by Beijing, which demanded that Canadian authorities immediately release the Chinese national.
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Chinese-Canadian relations were further strained following the detention of two Canadian citizens, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, in China shortly after Meng's arrest. While the detentions have been widely regarded as Beijing's retaliation for the arrest of the Huawei executive, Chinese authorities have denied the allegations, insisting that the two men posed a threat to national security.