Huawei Stands in New York Court Ahead of U.S.-China Summit... 'Technology Hegemony' Clashes Again

[Financial News] Ahead of the Washington summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the criminal trial of China's Huawei by U.S. judicial authorities has begun in earnest for the first time in about eight years, a symbol of the technology hegemony war between the two countries.
On the 9th (local time), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that during the jury trial at the federal district court in Brooklyn, New York, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) strongly criticized Huawei for systematically infringing on the trade secrets of U.S. companies and disrupting the U.S. financial system.
The prosecution alleged that Huawei deceived global banks such as HSBC and operated shell companies in violation of sanctions to conceal transactions with Iran and North Korea.
U.S. Department of Justice attorney Taylor Stout argued to the jury that Huawei had "stolen, lied, and covered up" for 20 years and had "sacrificed U.S. companies and financial systems to monopolize the global telecommunications market."
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) also claimed that Huawei paid bonuses to an employee who stole a competitor's core technology, was caught illegally filming the inside of a competitor's network equipment at an exhibition, and recruited a university professor to pose as a researcher to obtain and duplicate memory chips.
On the other hand, Huawei's lawyers countered that the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) was distorting the case based on biased evidence and unreliable witnesses. They maintained that this was a legitimate achievement earned by founder Ren Zhengfei through decades of massive investment in research and development (R&D).
This trial is an extension of the sanctions against Huawei that began during the first term of the Trump administration. Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who was arrested in Canada in 2018 and sparked diplomatic tensions among the U.S., China, and Canada, returned to China in 2021 after agreeing to a deferred prosecution with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ); however, the court accepted the statements she admitted at the time as evidence in this trial of Huawei.
Jonathan A. Czin, a China expert at the Brookings Institution, said that while this trial is unlikely to derail the U.S.-China summit, the decision to proceed with the trial instead of reaching an agreement "shows that there is a strong current within the administration seeking to take a tougher stance on China."
If found guilty, Huawei is expected to face massive fines as well as suffer a severe blow to its business with global financial institutions and overseas partners.

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