Yesterday, the Justice Department, led by acting director Matthew Whitaker, announced a series of charges against Chinese Telecom company Huawei, and the daughter of it’s owner Meng Wanzhou.
The indictments come amid a tense trade relationship between the US and China, with Canada also feeling some of the heat. Meng was arrested in Canada and is awaiting extradition to the United States. The Chinese government has Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg in custody, and has just sentenced him to death on charges of drug smuggling. They have also arrested businessman Michael Spavor, and Michael Kovrig.
However, the story of Huawei does not begin or end with these recent charges. In fact, it stretches back a decade and incorporates espionage, the brazen theft of IP, and what amounted to a silent war between the US intelligence community, the Chinese company, and by extension, the Chinese government. What makes this story worse, are the tidbits of information gleaned from various legacy media reports it is apparent, members of our own government were not only complicit in allowing this to occur, but in some cases were participants.
Watch for more!
