A high-flying Chinese executive has been caught in the centre of a growing geo-political dispute between two of the world’s largest economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meng Wanzhou is the chief financial officer of Huawei and the elder daughter of the telecom giant’s founder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was arrested in Canada last week for allegedly breaking US sanctions on Iran and faces extradition to the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China and Huawei insist that she has not broken any laws but she could be jailed for up to 30 years if found guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Meng, also known as Sabrina Meng and Cathy Meng, has risen up the ranks of Huawei, China’s largest private company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 46-year-old started her career as a receptionist in 1993, and after graduating with a master’s degree in accountancy from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 1999, she joined Huawei’s finance department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She became the company’s chief finance officer (CFO) in 2011 and was promoted to vice-chair a few months before her arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2018, she was ranked 12th on Forbes’ list of top Chinese businesswomen, four spots lower than where she ranked the year before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Meng’s links to her father, billionaire Ren Zhengfei, were not known to the public until a few years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the age of 16, in a practice highly unusual in Chinese tradition, she took the surname of her mother, Meng Jun, who was Mr Ren’s first wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Meng was taken into custody in Vancouver while she was changing planes on 1 December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prosecutors say she conspired to defraud banks by telling banks a Huawei subsidiary was a separate company – thereby helping Huawei circumvent US trade bans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US has been investigating the world’s largest smartphone maker since 2016, which it believes used a subsidiary to bring US manufacturing equipment and millions of dollars in transactions to Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Meng’s arrest has now sparked an escalating diplomatic incident between China, Canada and the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In documents filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, where Ms Meng’s case is being heard, details have emerged revealing the CFO’s personal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is a thyroid cancer survivor who suffers from hypertension and a sleep disorder, her lawyers said, in need of daily doses of medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I continue to feel unwell and I am worried about my health deteriorating while I am incarcerated,” she said in the filing. “I currently have difficulty eating solid foods and have had to modify my diet to address those issues.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her lawyers argued the mother of four was not a flight risk because of her “strong roots” in Vancouver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She told the court she was a Canadian resident until 2009, after which she returned to China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, she bought a six-bedroom house with her second husband in the city and would return regularly to visit him and her children, some of whom attended Canadian schools until 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That home is now reported to be worth C$5.6m (\u00a33.3m, $4.2m), according to property records and an affidavit Ms Meng read out in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2016, the couple bought a second property, a mansion worth C$16.3m – both homes have been put up as collateral for bail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 11 December, she was granted bail of C$10m (\u00a36m; $7.4m) including C$7m in cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court papers\u00a0give a fascinating insight into the life of a senior Chinese executive, says BBC World Service Asia-Pacific editor Michael Bristow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Vancouver has for some years been a destination of choice for wealthy Chinese people; as a place to live, educate their children, or as an insurance policy against the uncertainties of life back in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n