[Kristie Lu Stout, Host, "news Stream":] " Global economic turbulence, Huawei's leadership discusses damaging effects from the U.S.-China trade war as Davos gets underway. An open letter and talk of extradition the diplomatic rift between Canada, China and the U.S. takes a series of wild new turns. And who is in and who is out? We are minutes away from learning the 2019 Academy Award nominees. And we start with the diplomatic tango between the U.S., Canada and China that has become ever more complicated. Canada now says that the United States will soon make a request for the extradition of Huawei's CFO. Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada last month for allegedly helping her company dodge U.S. sanctions on Iran. China has accused the two countries of abusing their extradition treaty, and this comes as former diplomats, academics and activists sent an open letter to the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, in the letter, calling for the release of two detained Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. China says that they were detained for endangering national security. The letter says that their arrests, quote, "Will lead to less dialogue and greater distrust and undermine efforts to manage disagreements and identify common ground." Both China and the rest of the world will be worse off as a result. We are covering this story from both sides of the world. We have CNN's Will Ripley joining us from Beijing, but first let's go to Paula Newton in Ottawa, Canada. And Paula, the pressure is building with this open letter and the expectation that the United States will formally request the extradition of Meng Wanzhou.
[Paula Newton, Correspondent, Cnn:] Yes, and I can't say the Canadian officials expected anything else, but in listening to Canada's Ambassador of the United States, he's saying David MacNaughton he is saying, look, if you're going to file that paperwork, we want guarantees that this entire situation with Huawei does not turn into some kind of bargaining chip for trade. We are following the rule of law, which means you have requested this extradition and we will file the paperwork before January 30th and we are meeting our treaty obligations. But there is nothing, Kristie, more glaring to tell you the fact that Canada is being squeezed by both the United States and China and the fact that its own Ambassador to the United States is pleading with U.S. officials to say do not use this as a bargaining chip in trade. Having said that, it is not just the letter at this point, Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister is reaching out to as many allies as he can, garnering support and we know that behind the scenes, a campaign will begin also in Davos for Canada to be basically lobbying with its allies to say, "Look, it's Canada now, it could be any country next time." China needs to be aware that this will severely impair its ability to wield any kind of soft power around the world.
[Lu Stout:] All right, now let's go to Will Ripley standing by in Beijing. And Will, how is China responding to the open letter and the possibility that Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei CFO will be extradited to the U.S.?
[Will Ripley, Correspondent, Cnn:] In terms of the letter, Kristie, I think you could sum up the Chinese response in two words, "butt out." They say that these academics, you know, 27 former diplomats, 116 scholars from 19 countries are interfering with Chinese sovereignty and interfering with China's justice system. And they say that they do welcome normal and friendly activities. They're not trying to discourage scholars and business people and diplomats from operating in the country, but they say this case was different that these two Canadians essentially endangered Chinese national security, and therefore, they deserve to be charged and China buckling down and saying they will continue to face charges. In terms of Meng Wanzou, they call Canada's actions a grave mistake. A mistake that China believes needs to be corrected immediately. They continue to call for Meng Wanzhou's immediate release. The Huawei CFO, the daughter of the company's founder, a company that is a pillar of China's economy, her arrest really has hit a nerve here in China and has made the Chinese feel that it is blatantly apparent that this is not a legitimate case. As you said at the top, they feel that Canada and the United States abused their extradition treaty and that they feel this arrest was politically motivated having to do with trying to put pressure on China when it comes to the trade war and trying to sully the name of Huawei, which is one of China's most important companies, Kristie.
[Lu Stout:] Tension continue to rise over Huawei. We've got Will Ripley reporting live from Beijing; Paula Newton live from Ottawa, a big thank you to you both. Former Canadian Ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques is one of the signatories of that open letter to President Xi Jinping and he joins us now from Montreal via Skype. Sir, thank you for joining us. In this letter, you warned that the detention of Canadians will leave China worse off. Do you think that Xi Jinping is receptive to your message?
[Guy Saint-jacques, Former Canadian Ambassador To China:] Well, I do hope so and I think that's the main message there because this is not only a problem that involves Canada and China, but it's something that could happen to any other country. And here is a group of people who love China, who have worked in China most of their life in many cases, where you have there, great experts, people who have played a very useful role in explaining what's happening in China to the world. And of course, everyone is concerned about what could happen to them in the future, so I hope that the Chinese leadership will pay attention to this letter.
[Lu Stout:] Yes, a lot of concern about the fate of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and what about the Canadian sentenced to death after a court convicted him of drug smuggling? Are you also calling for the release of Robert Schellenberg?
[Saint-jacques:] Well, in that case, I think you know that the initial sentence of 15 years that was handed to Mr. Schellenberg back in October might have been justified. You know, he claims that he is innocent, but what is peculiar about this case is the speed at which the hearing of the appeal took place and when it took place, the three judges didn't want to hear about his supposedly new evidence that the prosecutors wanted to table. They said put this in the file. And after it concluded, it took them about 67 or 68 minutes to turn the initial sentence into a death sentence, and even Chinese lawyers have said that they were surprised by the speed of this hearing and the wait was conducted, so for me, clearly, there was political interference and it was additional pressure that China wanted to put on Canada to return Mrs. Meng.
[Lu Stout:] And meanwhile, we've been reporting that the Canadian government says that the United States will soon make a formal request for the extradition of the CFO of Huawei. Do you fear that when that happens, there could be more detentions, more retaliation from China?
[Saint-jacques:] Well, if we look at the playbook of the Chinese, and I have seen this in the past when we went to a similar case that was less publicized back in 2014, I suspect they will want to apply further pressure on Canada, but I hope that the strategy pursued by the Canadian government to rally international support will make the Chinese leadership think twice because China remains concerned about its international image despite what they say, like what Mrs. Hua, the spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing said today about the signatories of the letter. I think that they are taking note of what's happening and I hope that they will tone down their messages, and I also hope that we will be able to soon to sit face-to-face with China to try to resolve this issue.
[Lu Stout:] All right, so you remain hopeful that China is concerned about its international stature and international reputation, but in the meantime, a personal question for you, given the current political climate and the ongoing detentions, would you travel to China right now?
[Saint-jacques:] Well, I think in my case, I would delay travels because I know what can happen. And if you look especially at the case of Mr. Kovrig, what the Chinese are doing contravenes the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relation. This Convention says that you are covered by diplomatic immunity while you work in a country, but there is also this notion of residual diplomatic immunity whereby a country cannot question you on what you have done while you were a diplomat. And so in my case, of course, China could say that I was involved in all kinds of activities that threatened the national security. So I think that I will probably abstain for a little while before going back to China.
[Lu Stout:] Guy Saint-Jacques, sir, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us on the program and take care. Business and government leaders from around the world are gathering in Davos for, of course, the annual World Economic Forum. Optimism is in short supply these days. The CEOs warn that Brexit, trade wars, other sources of uncertainty threaten to drag down global growth. One of those companies feeling that pain is of course, the company we've been talking about, the Chinese telecom giant, Huawei. Now, CNN business editor-at-large, Richard Quest is on the ground for us. He joins us now live from Davos. And Richard, Huawei's Deputy Chairman is there. He, in the last few hours, addressed delegates there. What were you able to glean from him? What did he say?
[Richard Quest, Editor At Large, Cnn Business:] It's fascinating, actually, because first of all, Huawei does have a presence there. They have got a rather smart shop, porta cabin or whatever right on the promenade. You would hardly know looking at it that they were supposedly telecom's pariahs at the moment. They have got a presence here in this shop I mean, shop, as in terms of invited people in to talk and the Deputy Chairman is speaking on a panel today was quite clear that you know, we get this perception that Huawei is somehow an arm of the Chinese government or a spying arm of the Chinese government. Well, he said, "If that's true, they, too, are being hurt by the trade war."
[Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman, Huawei:] We've seen, you know, the effect on many of the companies, including Huawei, and some of the sectors from the trade war, and as a technology industry, we're highly reliant on the global supply chain and the global innovation ecosystem. So we are probably now suffering the most right now.
[Quest:] So there you have it, I mean, it's the best you're going to get in that sense, but any idea what I think is perhaps the most fascinating, any idea that somehow this company is going to pull up its tent and retreat to the hills and not be seen while these accusations swirl around is simply not the case. They are here in full force and they are making themselves open.
[Lu Stout:] Yes, and addressing that, yes, they're getting the hit. They're feeling the damage from the ongoing trade war, one of many risks to the global economy. That's being discussed there at Davos. We heard that warning from Christine Lagarde yesterday that the global economy is slowing down, and it could get worse? Richard, according to the people that you've been talking to so far, what is emerging as the single well, the biggest risk to global growth?
[Quest:] The biggest risk at the moment remains the trade dispute with China, most people seem to tell us, but they are not telling you how they are going to solve it or who has to give in first. But fact that the ripples are being felt and will continue to be felt, by far and away, that is the number one risk. In terms of the immediacy, as before, you've got climate change, democracies, threats, all the other issues, pessimism that are on the bigger issues.
[Lu Stout:] All right, Richard Quest joining us live from Davos. Richard, thank you so much for joining us. And you could join CNN for ongoing coverage of the World Economic Forum live in Davos, "First Move with Julia Chatterley" continues the week-long coverage that will kick off in less than an hour right here on CNN. In the meantime, you are watching "News Stream" and coming up, a U.S. citizen detained in Russia makes a court appearance today. We are going to tell you what happened at his pretrial hearing and the latest details from his lawyer. And a model linked to a Russian oligarch with apparent ties to the Trump campaign is due back in a Moscow court. We are live in the Russian capital with all of the details, next.