The Trump Administration continues to wage economic warfare on the world, but have they gone too far this time? The US government reached a new level of stupid this week when it ordered the arrest and extradition of Meng Wanzhou (pictured above), a Chinese citizen and CEO of telecoms giant Huawei CFO – purportedly for violating US sanctions on Iran.
Beijing has called for Meng’s immediate release, insisting that she was “not violating any American or Canadian law,”and warning that her arrest “seriously harmed the human rights of the victim.”
Her employer, Huawei, denies any accusations of espionage, and maintains that the company complies with “all applicable laws and regulations” where it operates.
Her arrest and planned extradition to the US caused the Dow to plunge 700 points in one day, with a 2-day loss of 1,500 points.
From a diplomatic point of view, this aggressive move by the US may cause China to ‘lose face’ – which is an important concept in international relations with Asia, but one which the current US Administration does not appear have grasped yet. This type of reckless move by bellicose US government will be seen as a public slight by China, and could trigger more hostilities between the two superpowers.
Beyond the incident itself, the US has still not justified its punitive sanctions regime against Iran, other than repeating a series of vague tropes about Iran pursuing a nuclear bomb and somehow being “the number one state sponsor of terror in the world,” – familiar talking points which seem to have been supplied by the Israeli Lobby and which do not actually reflect the reality of the situation.
This uncomfortable spat comes amid an intense trade war between Washington and Beijing, as well as unhinged military sabre rattling by Vice President Mike Pence earlier this fall.
On the trade front, some progress appears to have been made this week when President Trump agreed to postpone his planned tariff hike on Chinese imports. China reciprocated by committing to “substantial” purchases of American agricultural produce, as well as promising to curb the export of the highly addictive opioid known as Fentanyl.
RT International reports…
Huawei is one of the world’s largest telecoms companies, and is the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer behind Samsung.
The company has been accused of using its devices to pass on information to the Chinese government, prompting the US Department of Defense to ban their sale on military bases.
Earlier this year, six top US intelligence chiefs voiced their concerns about Huawei phones to the Senate Intelligence Committee, with FBI Director Christopher Wray saying he was “deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don’t share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks.”
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