OTTAWA—The Trudeau government is weighing whether to name a special envoy to China to handle tense relations as a 30-day clock starts ticking for Canada to respond to a U.S. request to extradite Meng Wanzhou to face criminal charges.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and his ministers of justice, public safety, foreign affairs, innovation and trade diversification all sought to get the government’s message about China back on track after former ambassador John McCallum conveyed after mixed messages last week and Trudeau subsequently fired him.

“In regards to China, we are always going to stand up for the rule of law,” Trudeau told reporters. “We’re going to respect our international obligations.”

Trudeau commented only briefly on Tuesday, the day after the U.S. sent its formal request, setting a 30-day clock ticking for Canada to decide whether to bring the American extradition request before a Canadian court.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said it is “absolutely” important for the Liberal government that China understand its concerns about the two detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and a third man, Robert Schellenberg now suddenly facing the death penalty for drug trafficking. She contrasted their cases with Meng’s, emphasized that the government remains focused on China, and disagreed with a suggestion the China file is in disarray.

“We’ve been very clear with China that Ms. Meng has been afforded access to Canada’s impartial and objective judicial system,” said Freeland. “There is absolute urgency. There is a huge focus on this issue by our government and we are energetically and systematically working on it.

But no minister would indicate when the Trudeau government would announce its now-freighted policy decision on whether to allow Huawei to participate in Canada’s next generation 5G wireless networks.

“We’re a sovereign country and we’re going to make sure that we do what’s in our interest by looking at the information accordingly. Yes, we engage our allies. Yes we work with our Five Eyes countries to make sure we see what they’re doing. Ultimately we’re going to make a decision in our own domestic interest,” said Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains.

China has warned both Canada and the U.S. to halt all proceedings against the Huawei executive.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing that “China is highly concerned” about 23 criminal charges filed Monday against Huawei and Meng, its vice chair and chief financial officer.

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He said the U.S. should cease its pursuit of Meng and “stop going further down a wrong path,” and said Canada was being used by the United States in its campaign of “unreasonable bashing” against Huawei.

Geng urged Canada to take “seriously China’s solemn position” demanding Meng’s immediate release and “stop risking its own interests for the benefits of the U.S.”

Canada’s department of justice received the United States’ formal documents and request for extradition on Monday, said a departmental spokesman Christian Girouard.

The U.S. unveiled 23 charges against Huawei, including several against Meng as an individual, accusing the world’s largest telecommunications company of technology theft, bank fraud, obstruction of justice, and money laundering.

The U.S. charged Meng personally with “bank fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracies to commit bank and wire fraud” for what it says was a deliberate effort to mislead Huawei’s major banking partners about the company’s operations in Iran to evade U.S. and international sanctions.

Meng is the daughter of Huawei’s founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, who is close to China’s ruling Communist Party and President Xi Jinping. McCallum had said Xi is “very angry” about her arrest.

In fact, the U.S. also took aim at Huawei’s “founder” but it did not name him.

The U.S. indictment alleges that in 2007 Huawei’s founder “falsely stated to FBI agents” that Huawei did not have any direct dealings with Iranian companies and that Huawei operated in compliance with all U.S. export laws. The U.S. Justice Department said it did not name all executives in its indictment — their names are blacked out — because some are not yet “apprehended.”

Canadian officials in the international assistance group of the justice department now have 30 days to review the American request, and to decide whether to issue an “authority to proceed” to bring it before a Canadian court. Meng was previously arrested on Dec. 1 under a provisional arrest warrant.

The charges against her appear to kill the hope — as expressed by McCallum last week, and hinted at by U.S. President Donald Trump last month — that the U.S. might agree to drop the charges against Meng as part of a trade deal and pave the way for the release of two Canadians detained by China, and the repeal of a death sentence levied on a third.

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On Tuesday, the Chinese government said the U.S. is using “national power to tarnish and crack down on specific Chinese companies in an attempt to strangle their lawful and legitimate operations.”

“Behind such practices are deep political intentions and manipulations,” said Geng, according to remarks translated and posted on the government’s website.

“We strongly urge the U.S. to stop its unreasonable bashing on Chinese companies including Huawei, and treat them objectively and fairly. China will also continue to uphold the lawful and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.”

Canada’s justice minister David Lametti told reporters that Meng’s case will be handled according to Canada’s extradition obligations under a treaty with U.S., while respecting her Charter rights and “the rule of law.”

Nonetheless the U.S. charges raise pressure on Canada, which is already bearing the brunt of Beijing’s wrath over Meng’s arrest.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Trudeau should follow whatever court ruling emerges from hearing the extradition request, and not allow political factors to come into play.

The law does allow the government to differ with a court “committal” decision in extradition cases, and allows taking into account international relations and other political factors such as whether a charge is politically motivated.

“What we should do is assure the global community, the international community that Canada looks at the evidence, that we weigh all the evidence and make a determination that is grounded in the principles of due process and justice,” said Singh.

But unlike the Conservatives, the NDP leader is not calling on Trudeau to ban Huawei from Canada’s 5G development. Singh says a security review should determine the final call.

“The dispute with China should not change the outcome of the review on either side. Banning or allowing Huawei to use the Canadian 5G network for political motives would be wrong. Our decision should be very clearly framed around or based on the security of Canadian information, the safety and privacy concerns of Canadians.”

Top Trump administration and justice officials said Monday Huawei breached federal and criminal law and posed a risk to America’s national and economic security.

But while they said Chinese companies like Huawei have a pattern of flouting U.S. law, they said the charges do not allege crimes were committed by any Chinese government official.

Nevertheless, they said Huawei is a security threat to U.S. interests because state cybersecurity require it to comply with access demands of the Chinese government.

Meng, arrested Dec. 1 while in transit through Vancouver’s airport, is out on bail, living in her Vancouver home.

A full extradition hearing could be months down the road. Many steps along the way may be subject to appeals.

With files from Alex Ballingall

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