Chinese-US trade war: Huawei VP detained

The 90-day truce in the Chinese-US trade war, agreed by both countries’ presidents at the G20 summit, seemed fragile at the time, but the detention yesterday of one of the highest executives of Huawei has thrown the deal into further doubt and sent shockwaves through stock markets worldwide. Meng Wanzhou is the daughter of the founder, and the Vice President in charge of finance for the Chinese mega-corporation. She was actually arrested on December 1st, in Vancouver, Canada, at the request of American authorities, but until now this has been kept under wraps by judicial order. The United States is seeking her extradition with regards to alleged violations of trade sanctions in Iran. Huawei is the second largest mobile phone maker in the world, and an icon of the Chinese economy. China has reacted quickly, and Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Exterior has said “neither Canada nor the United States have given an explanation for this detention, and we demand immediate formal explanations and the release of the detainee”. Huawei’s tone was less strident, and whilst they said “ had received little information”, the company statement said it was “confident the Canadian and American legal systems would reach a fair conclusion”.