The U.S. government has long suspected that Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei had links to the Chinese military and/or communist party, and that the corporation had secretly violated U.S. economic sanctions against Iran, for which the company needed to be held accountable.
Thus, when Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was changing flights at an airport in Vancouver, Canada, on Dec. 1, law enforcement pounced and placed her under arrest on accusations of fraud.
The New York Times reported that Canadian law enforcement officials made the arrest at the request of the U.S. government, which is seeking to extradite the Chinese official to America for prosecution.
This despite the fact that the arrest threw a wrench into President Donald Trump’s efforts at trade negotiations with China, not to mention causing turmoil in the international markets.
Top executive at Huawei
The 46-year-old Meng is the daughter of Huawei founder and leader Ren Zhengfei, a former Chinese military engineer who started the company to produce telephone switches in 1987 and eventually grew to become the world’s second-largest manufacturer of telecom equipment. Interestingly, “Huawei” translates to “China’s Achievement.”
Meng started off as a secretary at her father’s company in 1993, eventually earned a masters degree in management and transferred to the finance department of the business, and then worked her way up to be the chief finance officer. She now also serves as the public face of the corporation to the business world.
As part of her greater responsibilities, Meng sat on the board of a Hong Kong-based affiliate known as Skycom Tech. Skycom Tech is accused of having violated international sanctions to conduct business in Iran. Meng is also accused of being personally involved in deceiving financial institutions into conducting transactions that were in violation of the sanctions against Iran.
Fraud and violation of economic sanctions
At a bail hearing in a Canadian court on Friday, Canadian authorities accused Meng of fraud and said she had “direct involvement” in convincing financial institutions that Huawei and Skycom were in strict compliance with the sanctions against Iran, even though they were not.
Huawei has denied that any wrongdoing occurred, maintaining that all business conducted in Iran was lawful and demanding that Meng be immediately released from custody.
But the U.S. has been investigating Meng and Huawei’s business dealings in Iran for several years, and White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Huawei has been repeatedly warned against violating the sanctions. In an appearance on CNBC on Friday, Kudlow said, “We have these sanctions on Iran, it runs against our policy, why shouldn’t we enforce that?”
[show_poll poll_id=1125]
It remains to be seen if Meng will be ultimately prosecuted for fraud or released by Canadian officials, or if she is extradited to the U.S. to be held accountable for violating the Iran sanctions.
It further remains to be seen how this arrest and potential prosecution will impact the financial markets — hint: the markets don’t like the uncertainty — and U.S-Chinese relations, particularly with regard to trade imbalance and technology issues.
860 Responses
I think other web-site proprietors should take this web site as an model, very clean and great user friendly style and design, as well as the content. You’re an expert in this topic!
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic article.Really thank you! Want more.
Great work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the net. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher! Come on over and visit my web site . Thanks =)
Definitely believe that which you said. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the web the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed while people consider worries that they just don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
Superb post but I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit more. Thank you!
Terrific paintings! This is the type of information that should be shared around the net. Disgrace on the search engines for now not positioning this publish higher! Come on over and seek advice from my site . Thank you =)
Thanks so much for the blog article. Great.
Hey there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your post seem to be running off the screen in Chrome. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the issue fixed soon. Thanks
Hey, you used to write magnificent, but the last few posts have been kinda boring I miss your great writings. Past few posts are just a little bit out of track! come on!
Wonderful blog! I found it while browsing on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thanks
I think this is a real great blog post.Thanks Again. Want more.
512988 200099This sort of wanting to come to a difference in her or his lifestyle, initial normally Los angeles Excess weight weightloss scheme can be a large running in as it reached that strive. weight loss 955919
Great, thanks for sharing this blog post.Thanks Again. Want more.
Very informative blog article.Much thanks again. Fantastic.
A big thank you for your blog.Thanks Again. Keep writing.
I think this is a real great blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great.
910757 10883Some actually quality posts on this website , saved to favorites . 879800
hi!,I love your writing so a lot! proportion we be in contact extra about your post on AOL? I need an expert on this house to solve my problem. Maybe that’s you! Looking ahead to see you.
Qué maravilla de artículo.
Qué maravilla de artículo.
A round of applause for your article.Really thank you! Much obliged.
Lo voy a mandar a compañeros.
A big thank you for your article.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
Im thankful for the blog.Thanks Again. Will read on…
This is one awesome blog post.Really thank you! Awesome.
Lo voy a mandar a compañeros.
Lo voy a mandar a compañeros.
Qué maravilla de artículo.
I cannot thank you enough for the blog article. Great.
Hey, thanks for the post.Much thanks again. Will read on…
I truly appreciate this post.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great.
Lo mejor que leí hoy.
Lo mejor que leí hoy.
Lo mejor que leí hoy.
Fantastic article. Will read on…
Hello there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my twitter group? There’s a lot of people that I think would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Thanks
Thank you for your article post.Really looking forward to read more. Great.
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. Ill bookmark your blog and check again here regularly. I am quite certain Ill learn a lot of new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!
My coder is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on a variety of websites for about a year and am nervous about switching to another platform. I have heard very good things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress posts into it? Any help would be really appreciated!
Its exhausting to seek out knowledgeable individuals on this topic, however you sound like you already know what youre speaking about! Thanks