Photo: ANP
German news agency DPA reports that Meng Wanzhou will become chairman of Chinese technology group Huawei on April 1. This nomination may be a sensitive issue in the United States. She had previously been detained in Canada for years because the Americans suspected she had lied about business contacts with an Iranian company that had been sanctioned by the US. For example, she was going to mislead HSBC about this.
Meng is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei and has served as the company’s chief financial officer for the past few years. According to the DPA, her promotion should be seen as the next step in the succession plan for her 78-year-old father, who, as CEO, is responsible for the day-to-day management of Huawei.
In 2018, Meng made global news when she was arrested in Canada. Meng was forced to remain in Vancouver pending his possible extradition to the United States. After years of negotiations, she was able to strike a deal with the US Department of Justice in 2021. In doing so, she dropped the charges against her and dropped her Canadian extradition case.
US sanctions against Huawei remained in place. According to media reports, US President Joe Biden is currently considering further tightening sanctions, for example by blocking Huawei’s access to computer chips from major US suppliers such as Qualcomm or Intel.
Huawei is being accused of espionage by the United States, which the company itself has categorically denied. The Americans have already blacklisted the company, banning the use of Huawei technology in communications and networking equipment. Huawei’s network equipment has also been removed or banned in many other countries. In the Netherlands, for example, the company no longer supplies basic 5G equipment to Dutch telecom companies.
