Editorial:

Huawei fight is a new front in battle for world’s networks.

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n the midst of the Trump administration’s heated effort to prevent Huawei, China’s leading telecommunications firm, from gaining a global advantage in the race to build the next generation of computer and phone networks, the Justice Department has issued criminal charges against Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou.

The synchronicity of these two stories has put our international allies in a tough spot.

Have the charges been influenced by Washington’s worries about losing economic dominance? Should these nations risk their own relationships with Beijing to find out?

Federal law enforcement officials would argue for the independence of their work.

They said it took years of painstaking investigative work to create the two indictments, which were partially unsealed on Jan. 28. The 13 charges contained within are comprehensive and serious: They include Huawei’s alleged theft of trade secrets, its conspiracy to defraud the United States, and its evasion of economic sanctions on Iran. They’re partially based on internal memos from Meng that prosecutors say link her to a scheme to evade Iran sanctions.

“Both sets of charges expose Huawei’s brazen and persistent actions to exploit American companies and financial institutions and to threaten the free and fair global marketplace,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray at a Justice Department news conference to announce the charges.

Even before announcing these charges, the U.S. requested Canada detain Meng. Since last year, she’s been under house arrest at one of her two properties in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The United States is seeking to extradite her, a request that has infuriated the Chinese government. In what appears to be thinly veiled political retaliation, China has already arrested two Canadians and sentenced a third to death.

Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, now faces a difficult political choice about whether or not to extradite Meng.

What will make his decision more difficult is the fact that the Trump administration has embarked on a determined campaign to squash Huawei’s economic

success in critical global telecommunications work.

Countries around the world are gearing up for the fifth generation, known as 5G, of computer and phone networks. The new network is expected to be a major leap in terms of connectivity, allowing industries and entire cities to plug in the robots, autonomous vehicles and AI devices expected to power the future.

Trump officials have suggested to Poland that the protective presence of U.S. troops could depend on its decision whether or not to hire Huawei to build its 5G network. They’ve also pressured Britain and Germany to ban Huawei, claiming a security threat to the NATO alliance.

At least some of the Trump administration’s concern is well-placed.

The country that controls the majority of the world’s 5G network will also control vast amounts of the world’s data and intelligence. If it’s Huawei, then the possibility exists that it will change or reroute information — without users’ knowledge or ability to stop it — at the request of the company’s officials or the Chinese government. (Chinese law requires Chinese companies to support the country’s national intelligence work.)

Still, the Trump administration needs to tread carefully. Even if it successfully pressures our European allies not to work with Huawei, the company will still run the networks of a substantial portion of the world.

One way or another, European nations will have to cooperate with Huawei’s networks — and so will the U.S.

Instead of bullying our allies over Huawei, the Trump administration needs to make a positive argument for why American telecommunications firms offer more security and safety for the world’s 5G grid. The independence from government interference that U.S. firms enjoy would be an excellent starting argument.