Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou admits lying about Iran deal, gets to go home Huawei finance chief Meng Wanzhou has reached a deal with the US Justice Department to drop the fraud and conspiracy charges against her in exchange for admitting that she made false statements about her company's business dealings with Iran. The deferred prosecution agreement will end Uncle Sam's attempt to extradite Meng to …
Would that be the criminal behavior of a Chinese based company based out of Hong Kong using a subsidiary to trade with Iran in contravention of US law? I find it a bit of a stretch to argue that it's criminal. Irritating for the US regime admittedly in that the normal bullying tactics didn't have the desired effect, but hardly criminal in anything other that a Team America sort of way.
"Would that be the criminal behavior of a Chinese based company based out of Hong Kong using a subsidiary to trade with Iran in contravention of US law? I find it a bit of a stretch to argue that it's criminal."
Well yeah you're 100% absolutely correct, so long as Huawei doesn't have an arm in USA reselling forbidden American technology to Iran. Except that's exactly what they have, so I guess you are therefore wrong.
"...I expect there to be lawsuits against the US government for their grandstanding..."
What "grandstanding"? I think you just completely glossed over the crimes Huawei has been committing.
You know what, all of a sudden I've become fully in support of AUKUS and nuclear-powered subs for Australia.
Furthermore I think I'm going to buy more Taiwan and less China from now on...
Um no, China has just pointed out that when one side takes a hostage, the other side is likely to do the same. What is really disgusting about this case is not only that the Americans have used their perverted plea-bargain method of winning a prosecution without presenting evidence across an international border, but also that they have done so in a politically motivated persecution.
Anyway, bon voyage to Meng Wanzhou. I hope she doesn't blame the Canadians; it really wasn't their fault.
"and she has agreed not to commit further crimes."
Love this. Put a proven liar back in a country of oppression, lies, double talk and smoke and she promises not to do anything else shady...
China (and all other regimes that suppress human rights) should be isolated, blockaded and shunned internationally until they adopt proper laws with incorruptible courts.
Likewise, it's a huge climb-down for the US. After 3 years of trying, they've not managed to convince Canada of the evidence to justify deporting her to the USA. And now, instead of presenting the relevant evidence to one of their closets allies, they've basically said to her, "look, if you pretend you did it, we'll drop the extradition, you can go home and we'll no longer pursue the charges."
No matter how they try to present it, this is hugely embarrassing for the US.
China (and all other regimes that suppress human rights) should be isolated, blockaded and shunned internationally until they adopt proper laws with incorruptible courts.
The vast American corporation I work for gets nearly $1 billion in profits every year out of China. I'm pretty sure the shareholders don't give a bugger about human rights.
They nabbed her. Of course, they have culpability, otherwise, they have no agency.
Whether is was right to detain her is another matter. It all depends on whether the laws she purportedly violated are just laws, whether detention was a just response to claimed violation, whether detention is proportionate to the harm of not detaining her, etc.
IlNo that it's clear that this 'valid' request was in fact a politically motivated witch hunt, it should be time to reconsider their treaty with the US.
US politics have harmed Canadian interests for very little political gain by them.
With friends like that you don't need enemies.
She was facing criminal charges in a democratic country with which Canada had an extradition treaty.
So of course she would be arrested and extradition proceedings would be initiated.Canada is not culpable because it did not do anything wrong; it would have done something wrong if it had not arrested her.
No one is above the law.
Until now, apparently.
I certainly hope that someday Xi Jinping will stand trial in the Dominion of Hong Kong, a self-governing Dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations like Australia or Canada. Or in Tibet, or Uighuristan.
"I certainly hope that someday Xi Jinping will stand trial in the Dominion of Hong Kong, a self-governing Dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations"
Unless you are predicting that the UK is going to take back Hong Kong some time in the future, I think you need to look at the international headlines from back in 1999.
Arresting someone based on strong evidence and a legitimate extradition request, offering them due process, and letting them stay in a multi-million dollar mansion in the lap of luxury (continuing to run their business no less) is a far cry from taking randoms off the street based only on nationality and torturing them in a dungeon with no access to representation or consular services to make a point. Equating the two is sheer insanity.
I trust that the next time Canada and China have a trade issue you will fully support Canada rounding up Chinese visa students and locking them in the most medieval dungeon we can find? Just fair and normal, right?
The Canadian Michaels were not "randoms". There weren't tourists or ordinary business visitors to China. Look them up - they were clearly in positions that put them on the watch list. I'm not defending Chinese justice, but these were people whose work made them far from random victims.
With respect, cite your sources here.
Because I HAVE looked them up and I'm not seeing what you're seeing.
Their detention was clearly a reprisal for Meng's detention. Their release (after being found GUILTY of espionage) hours after Meng's release is clearly a response to Meng's release.
I cannot fathom how anyone from the West doing business in China cannot look at that and think, "That could have been me." China has shown it is willing to imprison people on trumped up charges, give them no legitimate legal process, and restrict their Consular access in retaliation if one of their foreign nationals is detained.
Speaking personally I will NEVER go to China as a result of this. My work could offer me every incentive under the sun, but it's not worth the risk to place myself under the power of such a corrupt regime in the pursuit of cheap Chinese labour and their manufacturing capability. We can look elsewhere.
Anytime you comply with an authority, you are in that moment rewarding an act of siege by an external aggressor .. you teach them to normalize their arrogance and you teach yourself that you are too pathetic to e hist and are luck thus other entity is granting you exception
Authority is created by the complacency of the follower and personal accountability to causality is owed.
Authority cannot exhhist without the willingness of others to give up in themselves.
I do not think the deal with MWZ was mainly aimed to release the 2 Canadians rather than showing ( once again, as if we needed it) that the lefties (or commies, if there is a difference for you) are liars. MWZ admitted she was lying and guess what, the CCP was lying too about the 2 hostages. They could have at least waited a month or so before releasing them.
Getting the 2 Michael back will definitely gives the CCP less leverage on the west, in this regard getting them back is good because public opinion, unfortunately, matters.
2 birds with 1 shot is generally a good thing, as for MWZ going to jail... who cares?
So you would not admit to anything when someone locks you up for months on spurious charges that wouldn't even bother your average Wall Street banker then?
The US has waged a trade war with Huawei for years because they were so far ahead with 5G that US companies didn't even get a look at the market, so they had to be smeared and screwed over in any way possible and with Trump in play they naturally defaulted to dirty.
It had results, too: despite Huawei passing audit after audit that verified there wasn't a single byte of intercept in their code, whole countries are now buying other products, thanks fully still not US (Eriksson, for instance, is making good money now). And no, there hasn't been a single US products so far that has offered itself to a similar level of scrutiny, so you best ensure you use decent crypto for all your communication - because you know who you can not trust *cough* Crypto AG *cough*.
I'm not sure which spurious charges you mean, MWZ allegedly covering up alleged breaches of extraterritorial sanctions that have no standing in international law, or the two Michaels allegedly collecting and revealing state secrets. Seems to me we have seen rather weak evidence in both cases.
"I do not think the deal with MWZ was mainly aimed to release the 2 Canadians rather than showing ( once again, as if we needed it) that the lefties (or commies, if there is a difference for you) are liars."
Why would the US care about a couple of foreigners? Why have the US not presented enough suitable evidence to Canada to allow the extradition to the US to occur? While defending China in any way, how is what the US did not lying? They claimed to have evidence but seem not to actually have any.
Why have the US not presented enough suitable evidence to Canada to allow the extradition to the US to occur?
They did. Lots of it. Some of which was problematic, but all of which was under review by the judge.
Meng's lawyers also came up with numerous non-evidence based arguments to try to avoid the extradition, such as claims of undue interference by US law enforcement, etc etc.
It all takes time, and the administration of justice in Canada is incredibly slow. So slow, in fact, that Canada's Supreme Court had to impose time restrictions on many trials. Violate the restrictions, lose the case.
When Meng's extradition hearings began, she was quoted as suggesting she should enroll in a PhD program at the local university, as it would take a few years to complete both the hearings and the doctoral degree!
Yes, China and all of its ransom and hostage taking friends will be laughing their heads off. Now they know, do something the rest of the world does not like, do not worry. All it will take is a few hostages, and you will be fine.
Best not to travel or have anything to do with China and its corrupt quisling friends
> Now they know, do something the rest of the world does not like, do not worry.
In other words they're learning to act like the USA. Let's hope they stop before they start USA style military interventions.
.............................................................................................................................. Icon: Where's the occupied Europe icon?
The problem is that the playbook to study is so goddamned long. ..... jason_derp
It is not a problem and easily mastered whenever one realises it is a series of one-trick ponies, jason_derp.
And that must be very concerning indeed, for it does not bode at all well for those intellectual challenged playmates if the future is more than likely to be considerably smarter and more switched on to virtual events than was ever the case possible before. But hey, that's real progress ..... chock full of so many crazy surprises.
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