The Canadian government has arrested Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, one of China's largest and most prominent companies. Meng was stopped because the United States had issued an extradition request based on charges that she helped Huawei avoid U.S. sanctions on trade with Iran. The detention threatens to derail the truce in the trade war between Washington and Beijing. It is also an important reminder of the role that Huawei has assumed in the telecommunications industry and the need to be sensitive to the national security implications of that profile.
Huawei is the world's largest provider of telecommunications equipment and the second-largest manufacturer of mobile phones. It has 180,000 employees around the world and its gross revenue in 2017 topped $92 billion, making it one of the jewels among China's high-tech companies, and proof that the country can lead in such fields.
Its size and status have allegedly encouraged a sense of impunity among Huawei executives. The U.S. departments of commerce and justice have been investigating Huawei transactions since 2016 and they have concluded that Huawei, with Meng's approval, disregarded U.S. sanctions against Iran, and traded U.S.-origin products with the Tehran government.