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“At the end of the day, we hope the decision on 5G can be made on technologies rather than other factors,” Liang said through a translator, later adding that he had “faith” in political leaders “to make smart decisions … and not let good technology go to waste.”

Liang acknowledged that the relationship between Canada and China is “not ideal” right now, due to the “rare” arrest in Vancouver of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in December at the behest of U.S. authorities for allegedly violating sanctions rules.

An attempt is under way to extradite Meng, who is also the daughter of Huawei’s founder, to face a raft of charges in the United States including fraud. Authorities there accuse her of participating in a scheme involving a subsidiary to do business with Iran, which would be in violation of U.S sanctions. None of the allegations have been proven.

“I cannot say the U.S. charges against Ms. Meng are not politically driven,” Liang told the media.

“Even the former Canadian ambassador said Ms. Meng has a good defence on the political character of the U.S. extradition request.”

John McCallum, Canada’s ambassador to China, resigned in January, shortly after he told a newspaper it would be “great for Canada” if the U.S. dropped the extradition request against Meng.