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China Huawei CFO Arrest

  • Type: incident

  • Name: China Huawei CFO Arrest

  • Id: I00053

  • Summary: Dec. 1: Canadian authorities arrest Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver’s airport while she is en route from Hong Kong to Mexico, after an extradition request from the Americans. The news becomes public on Dec. 5. Dec. 7: In Vancouver, Meng appears in court, where allegations of fraud are laid out. The U.S. alleges Meng misled American banks in a bid to get around American sanctions on Iran. Geopolitically complex issue combines US/China trade; Security concerns/issues related to Huawei’s 5G wireless equipment; diplomacy between Canada & China as Chinese subsequently arrest Canadian citizens.

  • Year started: 2018.0

  • From country / To country: China / World

  • Found via: nan

  • Date added: 2019-03-20

  • Techniques used:

Technique Description given for this incident
T0001 5Ds (dismiss, distort, distract, dismay, divide) I00053T005 China also plays victim, innocence, plays by rules, misunderstood narrative
T0001 5Ds (dismiss, distort, distract, dismay, divide) I00053T006 Chinese ambassador Lu Shaye accused Canada of applying a double standard, and has decried what he sees as “Western egotism and white supremacy” in the treatment of detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.”
T0023 Distort facts I00053T002 Distorted, saccharine “news” about the Chinese State and Party
T0050 Cheerleading domestic social media ops I00053T004 Extend digital the physical space… gatherings ie: support for Meng outside courthouse
T0056 Dedicated channels disseminate information pollution I00053T001 State-run media seeds foreign influence environment
T0057 Organise remote rallies and events I00053T003 Events coordinated and promoted across media platforms
T0057 Organise remote rallies and events I00053T004 Extend digital the physical space… gatherings ie: support for Meng outside courthouse

DO NOT EDIT ABOVE THIS LINE - PLEASE ADD NOTES BELOW

Actor: China

Timeframe: December 5, 2018 - still active on 04/03/2019

Date: December 5, 2018

Presumed goals:

  • Unlike Russia, Chinese state has employed a plethora of state-run media to exploit the openness of American democratic society in an effort to insert an intentionally distorted and biased narrative portraying a utopian view of the Chinese government and party.

Method:

  • China’s state-run social media operations are largely positive and coordinated because those techniques support Chinese strategic goals. State-run media seeds foreign influence environment

  • Distorted, saccharine “news” about the Chinese State and Party

  • Events coordinated and promoted across media platforms

  • Extend from digital into physical space with gatherings, ie: support for Meng outside courthouse

  • In the case of Chinese state-run information manipulation campaigns — to distinguish the political intent and national strategies underlying these campaigns as different from simply another perspective on the news. China also play’s victim, innocence, plays by rules, misunderstood narrative… they too have their version of the 4D’s. Examples: “Chinese ambassador Lu Shaye has accused Canada of applying a double standard, and has decried what he sees as “Western egotism and white supremacy” in the treatment of detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.” - Op-Ed in Globe & Mail. The Chinese embassy in Canada says the Vancouver arrest of a top Huawei executive amounts to a “political conspiracy” to undermine the telecom giant and it dismisses Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assertion that he had no role in the high-profile case. Canada's arrest of a senior Huawei executive was the "backstabbing" of a friend, Chinese ambassador Lu Shaye said Thursday, and he warned of repercussions if the federal government bars her telecom company from building a Canadian 5G network.

Counters: none identified/researched

Related incidents:

  • See Poland (arrest of Huawei employee); Czech republic;
  • Five Eyes to ban or not ban Huawei 5G network equipment

References:

Datasets: none identified (mining more Twitter data, Reddit, and comment forums could be valuable research)

Notes:

While a hypothesis and not related to Meng’s arrest, research done by John Gray (using Mentionmapp data from January 13, 2019) also suggests the need to look at adjecent/tangential flow of social data. In this case (could be coincidence) simutatneaous flow of tweets via State Media @globaltimesnews (reporting on Poland arrest) and of “influencer” (using bots to amplify content) @UserExperienceU tweeting favorable about Huawei technology. Need to consider the amplifiers/influencers operate to support/put the happy face on Huawei. More work needs to be done researching social behavior outside the “Great Firewall” using trolls, bots, cyborgs, and “willing/unwitting” idiots. Just like Russia, we also need to give more consideration to how bots/automation (low-volume in particular) is operating to amplify State Media in order to gain higher fidelity in search engines.

We should also recognize another form of Huawei/China manipulation in the form of research programs in Universities across North America and Europe https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190125061623487 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadian-universities-continuing-rd-funding-partnerships-with/ fortune.com/2019/01/18/oxford-university-huawei-research-funding/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-security-universities-insig/u-s-universities-unplug-from-chinas-huawei-under-pressure-from-trump-idUSKCN1PI0GV

Timeline of events

Dec. 6: China demands Canada release Meng and “immediately correct the mistake” officials made in arresting her. The Chinese also say they were not briefed on the reasons for Meng’s arrest. In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Meng’s case is part of an independent legal process with no outside political influence. Dec. 7: In Vancouver, Meng appears in court, where allegations of fraud are laid out. The U.S. alleges Meng misled American banks in a bid to get around American sanctions on Iran. Dec. 8: Canada’s ambassador to China, John McCallum, is summoned to a meeting with China’s assistant foreign minister so the country can register complaints about Meng’s arrest. “China strongly urges the Canadian side to immediately release the detained Huawei executive … or face grave consequences that the Canadian side should be held accountable for,” the assistant minister, Le Yucheng, says in a statement.

Dec. 12: China’s foreign ministry says it has no information about Kovrig, but says the organization he worked with – the International Crisis Group – was not registered in China, making its activities in the country illegal.

Dec. 13: China’s foreign ministry says Kovrig and Spavor have been detained on suspicion of “endangering national security.”

Dec. 20: Indictments unsealed in the United States allege two Chinese citizens targeted companies in Canada and around the world as part of a years-long hacking campaign to steal data.

Dec. 24: China’s foreign ministry calls out the U.S., Britain and EU, saying the trio should be condemning Canada for Meng’s arrest. Spokeswoman Hua Chunying says Canada should “correct its mistakes” and stop acting at the behest of the United States. She says Kovrig and Spavor’s rights are being respected in custody.

Jan. 9: China’s envoy in Ottawa suggests Canada and its Western allies are white supremacists for calling for the release of two Canadians imprisoned last month by his country’s communist government. Ambassador Lu Shaye makes the accusation in an op-ed in the Hill Times.

Jan. 15: China expresses its “strong dissatisfaction” with Trudeau over his criticism of Schellenberg’s sentence. Trudeau should “respect the rule of law, respect China’s judicial sovereignty, correct mistakes and stop making irresponsible remarks,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying says.

Jan. 17: Ambassador Shaye says Canada’s arrest of Meng was an act of “backstabbing” by a friend. Lu warns of “repercussions” if Canada bars the firm from its new 5G network for security reasons, as have three of its intelligence-sharing allies.

Jan. 22: China demands the U.S. drop a request that Canada extradite Meng. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Meng’s case was out of the ordinary and Canada’s extradition treaty with the U.S. infringed on the “safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens.” Jan. 28: The U.S. Department of Justice formally levels criminal charges against Huawei, two subsidiaries and Meng. The charges, contained in two newly unsealed indictments, allege that Huawei misrepresented its ownership of a Hong Kong-based subsidiary to circumvent American sanctions against Iran. Furthermore, they say Huawei stole telecommunications technology, trade secrets and equipment from U.S. cellphone provider T-Mobile USA. Meng is charged with bank fraud, wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit both. In a statement, Huawei denied committing any of the violations cited in the indictment.

Jan. 29:China calls on the U.S. to “stop the unreasonable crackdown” on Huawei, saying it will “firmly defend” its companies.

March 6: A lawyer for Meng tells a judge the United States’ bid for extradition raises serious concerns about the political motivations behind the case as the matter is scheduled to return to court on May 8 to set hearing dates.