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Extradition Hearing for Huawei Executive Begins in Canada

Associated Press

   VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - The first stage of an extradition hearing
   for a senior executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei begins Monday in
   a Vancouver courtroom, a case that has infuriated Beijing, set off a
   diplomatic furor and raised fears of a brewing tech war between China
   and the United States.

   Canada's arrest of chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, the daughter
   of Huawei's legendary founder, in late 2018 at America's request
   shocked Beijing.

   Huawei represents China's ambitions to become a technological power,
   but has been the subject of U.S. security concerns for years. Beijing
   views Meng's case as an attempt to contain China's rise.

   "This is one of the top priorities for the Chinese government. They've
   been very mad. They will be watching this very closely," said Wenran
   Jiang, a senior fellow at the Institute of Asian Research at the
   University of British Columbia.

   Washington accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company to sell
   equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. It says Meng, 47,
   committed fraud by misleading HSBC Bank about the company's business
   dealings in Iran.

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