BUSINESS OF HUAWEI

FOUNDER’S DAUGHTER ARRESTED

THE DAUGHTER of Chinese tech giant Huawei’s founder was on Saturday arrested in Canada and is facing extradition to the US, dealing a blow to hopes of an easing of Sino-US trade tension and rocking global stock markets. The shock arrest of Meng Wanzhou, who is also Huawei Technologies Company Ltd’s chief financial officer, raises fresh doubts over a 90-day truce on trade struck between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on Saturday – the day she was detained. The arrest is reportedly related to violations of US sanctions, a person familiar with the matter said. The arrest and any potential sanctions on the world’s second biggest smartphone maker could have major repercussions on the global technology supply chain. Shares in Asian suppliers to Huawei, which also counts Qualcomm Inc and Intel among its major suppliers, tumbled yesterday. Meng, one of the vicechairpersons on the company’s board and the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested on December 1 at the request of US authorities and a court hearing had been set for today, a Canadian Justice Department spokesperson said. Trump and Xi had dined in Argentina on December 1 at the G20 summit. Sources said in April that US authorities had been probing Huawei, the world’s largest telecoms equipment maker, since at least 2016 for allegedly shipping US-origin products to Iran and other countries in violation of US export and sanctions laws. Huawei confirmed the arrest and said it had been provided little information of the charges, adding that it was “not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms Meng”. China’s embassy in Canada resolutely opposed the arrest and called for Meng’s immediate release. I Reuters