China’s most successful tech giant Huawei was shaken up after its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada for violating economic sanctions. Canada received the request for arrest from the United States Justice Department. US will request for Wanzhou to be extradited for violating economic sanctions on Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela.
The Chinese have warned United States and Canada of severe consequences, and have ordered for immediate release of Meng. The Chinese media has called the arrest of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Meng Wanzhou an attack on technology. It said the United States was using its power to muscle crackdown rival tech giants around the world.
The Chinese smartphone maker stands 2nd in the world with sales over US$ 90 billion. Most countries have banned the company as it may pose danger to user privacy and data. Nations feel that Huawei is using technology to spy, monitor people for the Chinese Government and People’s Liberation Army.
United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India too had banned the telecom giant from providing equipment for connectivity.
Huawei is Iran’s number one provider for telecommunication equipment, and the world believes that it monitors and uses its infrastructure for surveillance. However this has not been proven yet.
All this comes along side the ongoing trade war between the United States and China. This arrest could hamper business opportunities for both the nations.
China is trying to gain a telecom supremacy around the world, this was bound to happen at some point in time. The United States sees this as a threat to its companies back home, but the results would do damage only to the United States more than China.