BEIJING | “Nice to see you”: Six months following her triumphant return from Canada, Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou made her first major media appearance in China on Monday since her release.
• Read also: Charest se distancie de Huawei
• Read also: Espionage: China comes to the defense of the giant Huawei
The late 2018 arrest in Vancouver of the daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecom juggernaut marked the start of a major diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Ottawa, with the parallel detention in China of two Canadians.
After nearly three years of proceedings, Meng Wanzhou was finally released at the end of September 2021 and returned to China.
Apart from a short statement upon her arrival on Chinese soil, Ms. Meng had never spoken publicly since.
On Monday, from Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen, the chief financial officer commented on the company’s annual results, placed on the American blacklist by the Trump administration.
Despite the sanctions, the telecom giant announced record profit for 2021, up 76% year on year to 113.7 billion yuan (16.2 billion euros).
Turnover, on the other hand, fell by 28.5%, to 636.8 billion yuan (91.2 billion euros).
Despite pressure from Washington, “our ability to make profits and generate cash flow is increasing,” said Meng Wanzhou.
Now, “we are better able to cope with uncertainty,” she told a handful of journalists, gathered in a room reminiscent of the splendor of a European palace.
“Uncertainty”
Huawei did not release details of the number of cellphones it sold last year.
But its sales of so-called “consumer” products, which include smartphones in particular, experienced a decline of almost 50% in 2021.
The brand was once one of the top three smartphone makers in the world, along with Korea’s Samsung and America’s Apple.
And it briefly held the number one spot, boosted by Chinese demand and sales in emerging markets, before being hit by US sanctions.
Dressed in a black dress with a butterfly-shaped brooch, Mme Meng did not explicitly mention his setbacks in Canada. But she said she was “delighted” to be present once more for the group’s results, “four years following” her last participation.
1is December 2018, during a stopover at Vancouver airport, the financial director of Huawei was arrested at the request of the American authorities.
Meng Wanzhou was accused of lying to circumvent US sanctions once morest Iran. An offense punishable by more than 30 years in prison in the United States, to which she was threatened with extradition.
A few days following his arrest, China in turn arrested two Canadians and accused them of espionage, a measure then widely perceived as retaliation.
“False statements”
They were Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat once posted in Beijing, and consultant and businessman Michael Spavor, a specialist in North Korea.
Unlike the “two Michaels”, who suffered harsh conditions of detention, Meng Wanzhou was able to remain under house arrest in one of his villas in Vancouver, under an electronic bracelet.
After years of detention described as “hostage diplomacy”, all were finally able to return to their country in September 2021.
This outcome was made possible by the US government, which proposed to the courts to “postpone” the proceedings once morest Meng Wanzhou until the end of 2022.
According to the American justice, Mme Meng admits by this agreement to have made “false declarations” and “concealed the truth” on the activities of Huawei in Iran.
Following this decision, the Canadian justice closed in September the extradition procedure once morest Mme Meng, which allowed him to regain his freedom.
If the US authorities’ legal settlement with Meng Wanzhou is not challenged or terminated by 1is December 2022, the proceedings once morest her will be definitively dropped.
