Why Ask Huawei?

The long-delayed hammer of justice finally descended on Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei:

U.S. prosecutors filed criminal charges against Huawei, China’s largest smartphone maker, alleging it stole trade secrets from an American rival and committed bank fraud by violating sanctions against doing business with Iran. In a 13-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn on Monday afternoon, the government alleged Huawei, two affiliated companies and its chief financial officer engaged in fraud and conspiracy in connection with deals in Iran.

A separate 10-count indictment in Seattle accused the company of stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile USA Inc. and offering bonuses to employees who succeeded in getting technology from rivals.

Snip.

The DOJ formally announced it was seeking the extradition of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company’s founder, who was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 on allegations that she committed fraud to sidestep sanctions against Iran. She has since become a flash-point in trade tensions between the U.S. and China; her release by the US and Canada was expected by some commentators who were confident the US would send a signal of goodwill to the US; instead Trump appears to be escalating the crackdown against Chinese technological theft.

Meng remains free in Vancouver, staying at her $4.2 million mansion with GPS monitoring, after posting bail of C$10 million ($7.5 million) as she fights extradition to the U.S. to face criminal charges.

The U.S., which had requested Canadian authorities arrest Meng, had to submit a formal extradition request by Jan. 30, which it did today. Canada’s justice minister now has up to 30 days to assess it. If she issues an “authority to proceed,” that means Canada is officially moving to extradition hearings. If so, they would likely be scheduled months later, even as relations between the US and China implode.

The Meng arrest really rattled the cages of China’s ruling elite, and is causing all sorts of friction between China and Canada.

The fact that China’s government aides and abets intellectual property theft, including industrial espionage, is well documented, and the Trump Administration is right to go after it.

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One Response to “Why Ask Huawei?”

  1. Howard says:

    Completely separate topic, but … I would say the winner of SuperBowl LIII is really Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons and Home Depot.

    I’m not mad at him for being a billionaire; I’m mad that Altanta politicians “graciously” decided to pony up $700,000,000 of other people’s money to give him the stadium where the 2019 super bowl will be played.

    You know, I bet Atlanta and Georgia pensions are just as much in crisis as other states. I know where some of that money went.

    Hat-tip to John Stossel for highlighting this:

    https://youtu.be/UIpJXfNPqVA

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