The Global Times  said the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecommunications giant in Vancouver on 1 December, went "against the consensus reached between the heads of state of China and the US in Argentina".

The reference was to a working dinner between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, at which they agreed to tone down the developing bilateral trade war.

China has asked the US and Canada to clarify why Meng was detained and to release her immediately, saying the arrest was a violation of her rights. The incident has been described as a dangerous precedent.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he was told in advance of the arrest. US National Security Adviser John Bolton also said he knew Meng would be arrested before the incident took place.

In other developments around the case, Reuters reported that Meng was arrested as part of an US investigation into the use of the global banking system to evade US sanctions against Iran.

News of the US Justice Department probe into whether Huawei has violated sanctions on Iran was reported by The Wall Street Journal in April.

At that time, it was reported that there was no indication how far along the probe had progressed, nor what specific charges were being investigated.

Reuters said the investigation had recently focused on Huawei's use of HSBC to make allegedly illegal transactions involving Iran.

The Global Times said the arrest sent a message to the international community that the US was targeting Huawei.

"It is clear that Washington is maliciously finding fault with Huawei and trying to put the company in jeopardy with US laws," the newspaper said.

"Washington is attempting to damage Huawei's international reputation and taking aim at the tech giant's global market in the name of law."