Canada prisoner swap reveals Huawei’s ties

In scenes reminiscent of a Cold War prisoner swap, a senior executive at Huawei Technologies Co was released, just as China allowed two Canadians to return home after 1,000 days in jail. The exchange will be hailed as a victory both in Ottawa and Beijing. But the political maneuvering required to orchestrate this deal undermines Huawei’s claims of independence from government influence.
The company’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, had been holed up in her Vancouver mansion since December 2018, pending extradition to the US over allegations of fraud. US prosecutors accused her of lying to HSBC Holdings Plc about the company’s dealings with Iran as part of an attempt to violate trade sanctions. Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat and senior adviser to the International Crisis Group, and Michael Spavor, a tourism consultant, were detained in China days after her arrest. Last month, Spavor was sentenced to 11 years in prison for spying, while a verdict against Kovrig hadn’t yet been delivered.
Technically, there was no connection between these cases. From the outset, the US maintained that its charges against Meng were purely legal, despite escalating tensions with China under the presidency of Donald Trump. Canada, meanwhile, was merely heeding an extradition request. China saw the opposite, claiming it was a political attack on a national champion. It didn’t help that Trump said he’d intervene in the case against Meng if it meant he could secure a trade deal with Beijing. In so doing, he turned Huawei into a bargaining chip and allowed the two Michaels, as they are known, to become pawns. (Chinese officials made no secret of this fact.)
Many people incorrectly conflate the Meng case — which revolves around sanctions-busting — with US allegations that Huawei equipment is used to help China spy. Such concerns underpin a US-led campaign, waged under Trump, to have Huawei equipment banned and even removed from telecommunications networks globally. Moves by Australia, Japan, Taiwan, the UK and Sweden to block the company’s presence on their shores are testament to the success of these efforts. Washington also used national security to justify rules that stopped the supply of critical components and technology to the Shenzhen-based company, crippling its ability to churn out networking equipment and smartphones.
Despite this sustained crusade, the US has struggled to prove a clear connection between Huawei and the Communist Party-led government in Beijing.

—Bloomberg