Washington sources reported US is seeking the extradition of Wanzhou Meng, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co, after convincing Canada to arrest her on December 1, likely in connection with violating sanctions against Iran. Meanwhile China immediately reacted with outrage, demanding that both countries move to free Meng. Reportedly the foreign ministry said it was still waiting for details on why she was arrested, and said trade talks should continue.
Meanwhile it is hard to overstate the significance of her arrest in Beijing: Meng is the daughter of the founder of Huawei, a national champion at the forefront of Xi's efforts for China to be self-sufficient in strategic technologies. Furthermore the US routinely asks allies to extradite drug lords, arms dealers and other criminals, arresting a major Chinese executive like this is rare if not unprecedented.
Andrew Gilholm, director of North Asia analysis at Control Risks Group, said by phone "The timing and manner of this is shocking and it is not often the phrase OMG appears in our internal email discussions." latest US action against Huawei may be even more significant. Moreover the company has made advances in developing its own microchips; it still relies on American equipment to make its networking gear and smart phones. Reportedly ZTE Corp, another Chinese technology company, nearly collapsed due to US penalties for violating Iran sanctions before Trump rescued it following a request from Xi.
