Advertisement

Why China feels it has little to gain from linking Huawei case to latest US trade war talks

  • Beijing is unlikely to gain much by linking criminal probe into Chinese tech giant with latest trade negotiations

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
China has criticised the US justice system’s targeting of tech giant Huawei. Photo: Simon Song

China and the US are trying to keep their complicated trade disputes separate from the charges levelled against China’s telecommunications giant Huawei, observers said on Tuesday ahead of the latest round of talks.

Advertisement

On Monday, the US Justice Department filed nearly two dozen charges against Huawei, ranging from bank fraud to stealing trade secrets.

US officials also made clear that they would submit an extradition request to Canada before Wednesday’s deadline to bring Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, the company’s chief financial officer, to America for trial.

The steps drew immediate criticism from Beijing, which has blasted the moves as politically motivated and demanded that Canada release Meng immediately.

Meng, also the daughter of Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Vancouver in December when she was changing flights.

But Monday’s indictment was filed just hours before the arrival of a Chinese trade delegation led by Vice-Premier Liu He in Washington for two days of trade talks.

Advertisement