The United States on Monday announced criminal charges against China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, escalating a fight with the world’s biggest telecommunications equipment maker and coming days before trade talks between Washington and Beijing.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The United States on Monday announced criminal charges against China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, escalating a fight with the world’s biggest telecommunications equipment maker and coming days before trade talks between Washington and Beijing.
The Justice Department charged Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, with conspiring to violate U. S. sanctions on Iran by doing business with Tehran through a subsidiary it tried to hide and that was reported on by Reuters in 2012 reut.rs/2sRL7Ve and 2013 reut.rs/2sUq8RT.
In a separate case, the Justice Department said Huawei stole robotic technology from T-Mobile US Inc. Huawei has said the two companies settled their disputes in 2017.
Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1. China subsequently arrested two Canadians on national security grounds.
Meng, who has been on monitored bail, is set to appear in a Canadian court on Tuesday to discuss changes to her bail terms, according to British Columbia Supreme Court schedules.
Canadian public broadcaster CBC on Tuesday said Canada has received a formal extradition request, citing Canada’s Justice Department.
China’s Foreign Ministry expressed “grave concern” about the charges and urged the United States drop the arrest warrant and end “unreasonable suppression” of Chinese companies.
Huawei did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
U. S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the charges are “wholly separate” from the trade negotiations. Yet the development is likely to upset high-level talks between Beijing and Washington this week as part of negotiations intended to walk back trade tensions between the globe’s two largest economies.
According to Canada’s legal procedures, its Justice Minister will have 30 days from receipt of the extradition request to decide whether to issue an authority to proceed.
