Huawei's Meng seems poised for victory ahead of ruling

The chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, fighting extradition to the United States, gets a first shot at release today in a far-reaching case.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia is to release a decision on whether Sabrina Meng Wanzhou's case meets a threshold of Canada's extradition law.

If associate chief justice Heather Holmes rules it fails to meet that test, Meng could be freed from house arrest in Vancouver. If not, proceedings could last years.

Ahead of the ruling, Meng and her supporters were spotted making victory and thumbs-up signs during a photo shoot on the steps of the British Columbia Supreme Court building.

The case started when Meng was arrested on a US request in December 2018 during a stopover in Vancouver, where she owns two homes.

Authorities in the United States have been building a case against Meng since at least 2013.

There are allegations Meng committed fraud by lying to HSBC and thus tricking the bank into conducting Iran-related transactions in breach of US sanctions.

Meng, 48, the eldest daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, is also the highest-profile target of a broader US effort to contain China and its largest technology company.

Beijing has accused Canada of abetting "a political persecution" against one of its national champions.

In the weeks after Meng's arrest, China put two Canadians - Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig - in jail on hazy security grounds linked to espionage, halted billions of dollars in imports to Canada and sent two other Canadians to death row.

Whether Meng goes free or not, the ruling is likely to escalate the fight between Washington and Beijing, increasingly at loggerheads over issues including the coronavirus pandemic, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Huawei plays a central role in those tensions.

Earlier this month, the US Commerce Department barred chipmakers using American equipment from supplying Huawei without approval from the US government.

The move drew condemnation from Beijing and warnings from Huawei's rotating chairman, Guo Ping, that the latest US curbs on its business would cause the whole industry to "pay a terrible price."

The US government has lobbied allies including Canada to ban Huawei from 5G networks, saying its equipment would make such infrastructure vulnerable to spying by the Chinese government.

Trudeau has moved carefully with the jailed Canadians in the balance.

Spavor and Kovrig have been confined for more than 500 days without access to lawyers.

Today's ruling will focus on whether Meng's alleged crime would have been a crime in Canada.