Daily Dispatch

Anger over Huawei arrest

- Chinese media condemns ‘rogue’s approach’ by Canada on firm’s CFO

Chinese state-run media have roundly condemned the arrest in Canada of a top executive of telecoms giant Huawei on a US extraditio­n request as a “despicable rogue’s approach” to contain Chinese high-tech ambitions.

The arrest of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer and daughter of the company’s founder, has angered the Chinese government and raised concerns that it could disrupt a trade war truce between the world’s two biggest economies.

Canada defended the arrest on Thursday, saying there was no political motivation, and a senior adviser to US President Donald Trump denied it was linked to US-China trade talks.

But Chinese media cast the move as an assault on the developmen­t of the country’s high-tech industry.

“The Chinese government should seriously mull over the

US tendency to abuse legal procedures to suppress China’s high-tech enterprise­s,” said the nationalis­t tabloid Global Times in an editorial on Friday.

“Obviously, Washington is resorting to a despicable rogue’s approach as it cannot stop Huawei’s 5G advance in the market,” it said. The China Daily warned that “containing Huawei’s expansion is detrimenta­l to China-US ties”. “US authoritie­s have not disclosed the charges she faces following a publicatio­n ban sought by Meng, but “one thing that is undoubtedl­y true and proven is the US is trying to do whatever it can to contain Huawei’s expansion in the world simply because the company is the point man for China’s competitiv­e technology companies,” the daily said.

China has lodged diplomatic protests over the arrest and has repeatedly asked the US and Canada to clarify reasons for the arrest. “In the past seven days, be it Canada or the US, neither have provided any evidence of the involved party breaking the law in either country,” Chinese foreign ministry spokespers­on Geng Shuang said at a press briefing in Beijing.

Meng’s arrest follows a US probe into the company’s alleged violations of Iran sanctions. Though China’s technology sector is still reliant on certain US exports like microchips, Beijing wants to transform the country into a global tech leader – with a technologi­cal prowess rivalling the US – in a plan dubbed “Made in China 2025”.

Huawei is one of the world’s largest telecommun­ications equipment and services providers. —AFP

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MENG WANZHOU

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