Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei Technologies CFO, has pleaded not guilty in a deferred prosecution plea agreement reached with the U.S. Justice Department. The deal is expected to allow Meng to return to China.

Here is a timeline of the Meng Wanzhou case:

2018

Aug. 22: A New York court issues a warrant for the arrest of Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou.

Dec. 1: Canadian authorities arrest Meng at Vancouver's airport after an extradition request from the Americans. The news becomes public on Dec. 5.

Dec. 6: China demands Canada release Meng and "immediately correct the mistake'' officials made in arresting her.

Dec. 7: Meng appears in a Vancouver court, where allegations of fraud are laid out. The U.S. alleges Meng misled American banks in a bid to get around American sanctions on Iran.

Dec. 10: Chinese authorities arrest two Canadian men. Michael Kovrig, who was on leave from Global Affairs Canada, and entrepreneur Michael Spavor. Kovrig's arrest becomes public on Dec. 11. Spavor's becomes public on Dec. 12.

Dec. 11: Meng is released on $10 million bail. U.S. President Donald Trump tells Reuters that he would "certainly intervene" in Meng's case "if I thought it was necessary'' to help forge a trade deal with China.

Dec. 13: Trump's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, says the arrests of the two Canadians were plainly a response to Meng's arrest. China's Foreign Ministry says Kovrig and Spavor have been detained on suspicion of ``endangering national security.''

Dec. 24: China's Foreign Ministry calls out the U.S., Britain and EU, saying the trio should be condemning Canada for Meng's arrest.

2019

Jan. 3: At a news conference, China's prosecutor general Zhang Jun says Kovrig and Spavor "without a doubt'' violated Chinese law. He says the investigation is also following the rule of law but doesn't provide more details about the allegations.

Jan. 7: The Prime Minister's Office says Trump has affirmed his respect for judicial independence.

Jan. 9: China's envoy in Ottawa suggests Canada and its Western allies are white supremacists for calling for the release of two Canadians imprisoned last month by his country's Communist government. Ambassador Lu Shaye makes the accusation in an op-ed in the Hill Times.

Jan. 17: Ambassador Shaye says Canada's arrest of Meng was an act of "backstabbing'' by a friend. Lu warns of "repercussions'' if Canada bars Huawei from its new 5G network for security reasons, as have three of its intelligence-sharing allies.

Jan. 22: China demands the U.S. drop a request that Canada extradite Meng.

Jan. 28: The U.S. Department of Justice formally levels criminal charges against Huawei, two subsidiaries and Meng. The charges, contained in two newly unsealed indictments, allege that Huawei misrepresented its ownership of a Hong Kong-based subsidiary to circumvent American sanctions against Iran. Furthermore, they say Huawei stole telecommunications technology, trade secrets and equipment from U.S. cellphone provider T-Mobile USA. Meng is charged with bank fraud, wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit both. In a statement, Huawei denied committing any of the violations cited in the indictment.

Jan. 29: The Canadian government says it has received a formal request for the extradition of Meng, who appears in a Vancouver court to change the people who are providing her with some of the financial sureties for her release.

March 1: The Justice Department gives the formal go-ahead for the extradition case to proceed.

March 3: Meng's defence team announces it has filed a notice of civil claim alleging "serious violations'' of their client's constitutional rights.

March 4: China accuses the two detained Canadians of acting together to steal state secrets.

March 6: A lawyer for Meng tells a judge the United States bid for extradition raises serious concerns about the political motivations behind the case.

March 14: Huawei pleads not guilty in a New York court to charges accusing it of plotting to violate Iran trade sanctions.

March 22: A judge orders the RCMP to provide copies of the content on seven electronic devices owned by Meng after they were seized when she was arrested. Justice Heather Holmes of the British Columbia Supreme Court says the RCMP must make copies of data on an iPhone, an iPad, a MacBook Air, a Huawei phone, two SIM cards and a flash drive.

May 8: Meng's defence team tells a judge it plans to argue that she shouldn't be extradited to the United States because she hasn't committed fraud under Canadian laws and her arrest was unlawful.

May 9: Canadian diplomats are joined in a Chinese courtroom by American, British, French and German colleagues to watch an appeal in Schellenberg's case.

May 23: China's ambassador to Canada says the bilateral relationship is at "rock bottom'' compared to any time since diplomatic ties were first established decades ago.

June 24: Defence lawyers for Meng ask Ottawa to stop the extradition process against their client, saying the request made by the United States was for political purposes, not legitimate law enforcement reasons.

Aug. 20: Court documents released ahead of Meng's extradition hearing suggest a Canadian border official questioned her about her business before the RCMP arrested her. The nearly 1,100 pages of material released by the court were collected by Meng's defence team.

Aug. 21: Meng's lawyers allege Canadian officials acted as "agents'' of American law enforcement while she was detained at Vancouver's airport for three hours ahead of her arrest.

Sept. 23: A lawyer for the Attorney General says Canadian officials followed the law when they detained Meng and the defence has no proof to substantiate its "conspiracy theory'' that she was illegally arrested.

Oct. 1: A Crown lawyer tells a judge Canadian border guards mistakenly gave the RCMP passcodes to electronic devices belonging to Meng when she was questioned at the Vancouver airport.

Oct. 29: The federal government says Canada's new ambassador to China has met with Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.

Oct. 31: In documents, Meng's lawyers maintain there is an "air of reality'' to an allegation the RCMP illegally shared details of her electronic devices with the FBI, despite new affidavits from the Mounties denying the claim.

Nov. 28: Lawyers for Meng say the United States is "dressing up'' its complaint that she violated sanctions as a case of fraud as they ask the B.C. Supreme Court to decline her extradition.

2020

Jan. 23: A lawyer for Meng argues the extradition case against her is a test of whether courts will reject foreign charges that run contrary to Canadian values as a hearing wrapped up in the B.C. Supreme Court. The hearing focused on the legal test of double criminality.

May 27: Holmes rules against Meng on the double-criminality argument. The B.C. Supreme Court judge says the allegations against Meng could constitute a crime in Canada.

June 15: Lawyers for Meng accuse authorities in the United States of misleading the B.C. Supreme Court judge presiding over the extradition case. Meng's defence team says it is seeking a stay in the proceedings arguing that U.S. case records are "grossly inaccurate and based on deliberate and/or reckless misstatements of fact and material omissions, thereby constituting a serious abuse of the extradition process.''

June 19: China charges Kovrig and Spavor with spying.

Aug. 25: Meng loses her battle to have the contents of six confidential documents released to her legal team after arguing in Federal Court that the redacted documents would support the position that their client suffered an abuse of process during her arrest.

2021

Aug. 11: Meng's formal extradition hearing begins in B.C. Supreme Court. A lawyer for Canada's attorney general said the United States has laid out a case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou that shows her actions meet the classic definition of "commercial dishonesty."

Aug. 11: Michael Spavor was sentenced to 11 years in prison on national security charges.

Aug. 13: A lawyer for Meng said the United States has presented a "fatally flawed" case against the Huawei executive that is filled with evidentiary gaps and doesn't meet the threshold for extradition.

Aug. 18: Justice Holmes reserved her decision in the extradition case, saying only that she will set a date for her ruling later.

Sept. 24: Meng pleads not guilty in a U.S. court after reaches agreement with the American government over a deferred prosecution.

Sept. 24: The U.S. extradition request is dropped, as are Meng's bail conditions, allowing her freedom to leave Canada.

Sept. 24: At a hastily called evening news conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces that Kovrig and Spavor have boarded a plane with Canada's ambassador to China and are on their way home.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2021.

The Canadian Press