When Meng Wanzhou's flight landed in Vancouver on 1 December 2018, she was expecting to make only a brief stopover. But nearly two years on, the chief financial officer of Huawei and daughter of the telecoms giant's founder looks set for a prolonged stay - placing considerable strain on relations between Canada and China.

The next round of hearings in a protracted legal battle over her extradition to the US begin on Monday.

Those involved say the whole process could drag on for as long as a decade, leaving Canada caught in the escalating tension between Washington and Beijing, focused on one of China's most prominent companies.

At the centre of the story is a sixteen-page corporate PowerPoint presentation.

Vancouver stopover and an arrest
When her plane from Hong Kong landed, Meng Wanzhou planned to go to a house she owned in the Canadian city to collect some luggage before catching another flight to Mexico for a corporate meeting. When that was over, she was formally admitted into Canada. It was at this point that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police moved in and arrested her because of an extradition request filed by the US.

The US wants Ms Meng to stand trial on charges including fraud linked to the alleged violation of US sanctions against Iran, allegations she denies. The PowerPoint was used by Ms Meng at a meeting with the bank HSBC on 22 August 2013, and is seen as key evidence against her.

Reuters news reports in the preceding months had raised questions about whether there had been a breach of trade sanctions on Iran by Hong Kong-based firm Skycom.






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