OTTAWA—Beijing’s envoy to Canada says Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was a “politically motivated” act in violation of international law norms, and is viewed as a “backstabbing” by a country China had considered its best Western friend.

In a rare news conference with Canadian and Chinese-language reporters, Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye blasted the Trudeau government for the “unprecedented” arrest of the executive of a multinational company who China says broke no law in Canada.

He denied China’s detentions of two Canadian men or the death penalty levied against another man are in retaliation, and warned Canada against deepening the current rift.

Speaking in Mandarin, Lu said through an embassy interpreter that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland should stop trying to “rally” other countries to its cause, and accused them of engaging in “microphone diplomacy” that will fail to isolate China and make matters worse.

He said Freeland should avoid lobbying allies at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week, saying if Canada is sincere, it should “think twice” about raising the consular issues there.

“The open war of words will only escalate tensions instead of easing tensions,” Lu said.

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At the same time, China issued an even sharper warning to Trudeau’s government.

The ambassador said if Canada follows the U.S. and its “Five Eyes” security partners in banning Huawei from the development of 5G networks, the next generation of wireless technology, when there is “no evidence” to justify any security concerns, there will be “repercussions” for the bilateral relationship. He said he was unsure what those would be.

“That’s a threat,” said Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said in an interview.

So, too, is Lu’s warning that Canada should cease its campaign to rally international allies to protest China’s treatment of Canadian nationals abroad.

Saint-Jacques said it shows the strategy Trudeau government has pursued in response “is working.”

“It’s getting their attention. China is very concerned about their international image and reputation, and, right now, Canada’s rallying this support ….”

Some allies have stopped short of demanding the release of the two Canadian detainees, but Canada should continue its efforts, Saint-Jacques said.

Freeland, speaking in Sherbrooke at a cabinet retreat, vowed to do just that.

She said on Thursday Spain joined the growing chorus of those objecting to China’s actions, and publicly expressed concerns “about the detention of Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor and about the use of the death penalty against Mr. Schellenberg.”

“So there is a large and growing group of allies who share Canada’s concerns about the rule of law and we are grateful to our allies who are speaking out. We think it is very much in their interests to do (so).”

The United States, which is seeking Meng’s extradition, has joined that group. However Beijing has not directed the same anger at Washington. Asked why, one Chinese official at the embassy said “Meng is in Canada; she is not in the U.S.”

Lu said Beijing had made its objections to the Americans known as well, saying the U.S. has extended the “long arm” of its domestic law into another country in breach of international legal norms.

Freeland responded tersely to Lu’s threats; she said only that Huawei’s role in Canada’s telecommunications evolution is still under “serious consideration” by the government and its security agencies.

The minister agreed with one point the Chinese ambassador made: that the Meng case should be treated as separate from the ordeal facing the Canadians detained in China, and stressed that it is “not in any way a political judgment by the government of Canada. It is not in any way a statement about our relationship with China.”

She said Meng’s detention was “purely” the result of Canada acting “as a rule-of-law country, as a country that believes in rules-based international order, as a country which is committed to honouring its international treaty obligations, acting in line with all of those things. That is the right way for Canada to behave.”

Lu made it clear China rejects Canada’s justification for Meng’s arrest and bail restrictions that require her to remain in Vancouver until the American extradition case is heard.

Lu said China understands Canada’s judicial system, and noted that commentators and legal scholars in Canada and the U.S. have said it would be “naive to believe this case of Meng is a purely judicial matter.”

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“So China’s original characterization of this case is not wrong; it (the case) is politically motivated.

He said China understands Canada’s judicial system perfectly well and that is why it feels so betrayed.

“Because we regard Canada as such a good friend, we are especially hurt by this case of Meng,” said Lu. “Actually, in China, we have a saying that a good friend would die for his friend or would shield the knife attacks of another friend, but in this case we feel it is completely the opposite.

“It can be said as ‘backstabbing.’ ”

Lu said Canada will fail to isolate China, and that China had “a lot of friends” in the international community, across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The ambassador repeated Beijing’s line about why former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor are detained on unspecified allegations of endangering national security.

He said said, as the investigation “deepens and advances,” the charges will be made “clear and specific.”

He did not deny China has questioned Kovrig about his actions during the time he served as a diplomat in Canada’s mission in China where he worked from 2012 to 2016.

But he flatly denied Canada’s claim that China is violating principles of diplomatic immunity in questioning Kovrig for activities Ottawa believes remain covered by the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.

Lu said Kovrig travelled on a regular passport on a business visa, and enjoys no residual diplomatic immunity

“According to the Vienna convention, activities that endanger national security are not duties carried out by a diplomat.”

Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada’s former envoy to Beijing, said the ambassador’s interpretation is wrong. “If a diplomat engages in anything that runs against national security, you expel them. This principle is inviolable.”

Asked whether China would release the two men if Meng was released as a gesture of goodwill, Lu said: “These two cases are not connected.”

Over the course of an hour-and-a-half, Lu insisted China, too, follows the rule of law ,and all legal procedures were followed in the case of Robert Schellenberg, whose 15-year sentence on drug trafficking charges was changed to the death penalty on Monday.

Asked if Schellenberg faces imminent danger, Lu said only that he has the right to appeal the sentence.

Lu slammed what he said were negative portrayals of China in Canadian media which he said were poisoning Canadians’ attitudes about China and giving his country a black eye.

But he was unapologetic about his own widely-criticized Hill Times essay that accused China’s critics since Meng’s arrest of “double standards due to Western egotism and white supremacy.” He said that Canada’s public safety minister is even worried about the rise of white supremacists.

—with files from Bruce Campion-Smith, in Sherbrooke

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