The release of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou a big win for China

By Gerald Mbanda

Meng waves to the crowd after her arrival at the Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

After being detained for almost three years in Canada, the Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wangzhou arrived in her home city of Shenzhen on Saturday night. Meng was arrested at Vancouver airport in December 2018, and charged of committing fraud by misleading the HSBC bank about the company’s business dealings in Iran. Meng denied the charges which were widely considered as politically motivated in a larger trade war between US and China. After her arrest, her father who is the CEO of Huawei was quoted saying that his daughter should be proud because she became a “bargaining chip” in the trade war. 

Huawei which is considered the biggest global supplier of network gear for phone and internet companies, is a symbol of China’s progress in becoming a technological world power. In January 2019 the Trump administration Justice Department accused Huawei of “stealing trade secrets and using a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom to sell equipment to Iran in violation of US sanctions.” The US is known to use all sorts of lies including “security concerns” in order to find justification for suffocating Chinese technology that has to a certain extent out- competed their own in recent years.   

Huawei considered the biggest global supplier of network gear for phone and internet companies, has been a symbol of China’s progress in becoming a technological global power, and the US blocked the Chinese technology giant from providing 5G networks in US. The US also influenced its allies especially Canada, European countries and Australia, to abandon Huawei products, and that’s how Meng found herself in a Canadian jail under US indictment.  In short, Canada has been fighting someone else’s war and it was not on its own conviction that the Huawei executive had a case to answer.

Former US president Donald Trump imposed restrictions on Huawei simply because its products were cost-effective and superior giving US competitors a run for their dollar. The US which has had the monopoly of technology superiority for decades over other countries is now facing stiff competition from China   and the trade war between US and China has exposed the illusion that the US adherences to free- market competition.

After the arrest of Meng, the US chief technology officer Michael Kratsios, while speaking at a technology conference in Lisbon on   July 7,  2019, he called on European countries that they,  “must take a stand with America” which imposed restrictions on Huawei and argued the EU countries to abandon the Chinese products. Kratsios is the man behind the US discriminatory policy on technology and data.

Under the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, on trade without discrimination, countries are argued to treat foreign and locally produced goods equally (national treatment principle) especially when the good have entered the market. The same principle should apply to foreign and domestic services, foreign and local trademarks, copyrights and patents. The principle of “national treatment” (giving others the same treatment as one’s own national),  is clearly reflected in three main WTO agreements namely; Article 3 of GATT, Article 17 of GATS and Article 3 of TRIPS. By creating  wrong reasons to stop Chinese products from accessing US markets, the US is not only being unfair, but also  intentionally breaches laws and  regulations that govern international trade. The big question here remains, where is the rule is based engagement between US and other world nations? 

In 2018, there were also unfounded allegations spread by US that China had installed listening devices and computers to spy on the African Union headquarters. The AU chairman Mousa Faki Mahamat refuted the allegations that had been published by a French newspaper Le Monde. The AU boss responded that these were “totally false allegations,” affirming that ties between China and AU were “unwavering,” and such reports could not damage their relations.

The rise of China which is now the  second largest economy in the world,  and leading in a number of technological innovations,  has disrupted the US hegemony and the US policy makers consider this as a threat that has to be curtailed using any means possible. The release of Meng Wanzhou,  is a clear manifestation that China rise is unstoppable by any means,  and this is a big win for China.  The only option is to abide by rule based competition while differences can be resolved through diplomatic engagements rather than unfounded allegations and anti-China propaganda.

 Ode to the Motherland, Meng Wanzhou.

Gerald Mbanda is a Researcher and publisher on China and Africa.  

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