China’s state media called the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer in Canada a “despicable rogue’s approach”, painting the move as a politically motivated effort to contain China’s rise.
“Obviously Washington is resorting to a despicable rogue’s approach as it cannot stop Huawei’s 5G advance in the market,” the nationalist Global Times said Thursday in an editorial.
“Despite incomplete information about the incident, the US move obviously goes against the consensus reached between the heads of state of China and the US in Argentina.”
Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the Chinese telecommunications giant, was arrested in Canada at the request of the US, on the same day that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping negotiated a truce in the ongoing trade war between the two countries over dinner at a G-20 summit in Buenos Aires.
The US alleges that Huawei, a major player in the coming global roll-out of 5G wireless networking equipment, violated US sanctions against Iran.
“The Chinese government should seriously mull over the US tendency to abuse legal procedures to suppress China’s hi-tech enterprises,” the Global Times editorial said. “It should increase interaction with the US and exert pressure when necessary.”
A separate editorial published on Thursday in the state-run China Daily hit on the same theme.
“One thing that is undoubtedly true and proven is the US is trying to do whatever it can to contain Huawei’s expansion in the world simply because the company is the point man for China’s competitive technology companies,” the China Daily editorial said. — (c) 2018 Bloomberg LP