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Canada has arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver

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Re: Canada has arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver

#111
post #47

A tl;dr to address some of the obvious questions here: In 2013 she set up a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom Tech. That company (attempted to) purchase HP computers from the United States and resell them to Iran. The deal did not involve Huawei products, but many of the documents related to the deal were labeled "Huawei confidential" indicating they created the shell company to conceal their involvement. She bro…

It's kinda scary that the US can do anything about straw purchases. US company sells to HK company, the stuff becomes property of HK company, US should be completely out of the goddamn picture at this point, HK company sells to Iran, done. The US govt must not be able to do anything about the HK company's intention to resell.

I disagree.

Take Arms. Lets say the US has an arms embargo with a country like Iran. You would agree that it definitely is a violation (and it would be of many international treaties) to purchase US arms as a Hong Kong (replace with whatever country) firm and then resell them to Iran. Now, with computers being the next front of warfare, computer tech is treated similar to arms.

The whole movie 'War Dogs' is about people doing this with Soviet Arms, repackaging them, and selling them to the US. It was illegal, hence they got locked up at the end

Re: Canada has arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver

#112
post #27
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She allegedly broke US law and was in the territory of a country that shares an extradition treaty with the US.

How sure can I be if my company is not breaking any Chinese laws? Would it by fine if I get arrested for breaking those when I'm on a trip to Asia? I'm not saying that Huawei is innocent, I just agree with the downvoted comment that the situation seems ridiculous.

One way to to be certain is to not travel or do business with any Chinese company. In this case, Huawei was selling us technology to Iran so it became a target.

Whenever you get in the cross-hairs of any country and you travel abroad, there is a non-zero risk of you being extradited.

Re: Canada has arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver

#113
post #10
post #3

Can somebody explain to me on what authority the US can request the arrest of a Chinese national on Canadian soil for any action they took while conducting operations of a Chinese organization headquartered in China?

She allegedly broke US law and was in the territory of a country that shares an extradition treaty with the US.

Also important to note that extradition generally requires that the request be for a crime similar or recognized in the requested country. The treaties usually state or outline the crimes or characteristics that qualify.

Countries with "incompatible" legal systems generally don't have extradition treaties, but if they do you typically have to be charged with something that's a serious crime in both countries.

Re: Canada has arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver

#114
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How sure can I be if my company is not breaking any Chinese laws? Would it by fine if I get arrested for breaking those when I'm on a trip to Asia? I'm not saying that Huawei is innocent, I just agree with the downvoted comment that the situation seems ridiculous.

You do not have a right to not be arrested in China. Why would you think that? They can arrest you for any reason at any time if you are on their land.

You also don't have a right to not be arrested in America. Why would you think that? They can arrest you for any reason at any time if you are on their land.

If you're outside America, you don't have a right not to be blown to pieces by a killer robot (aka "drone"). Why would you think that? They can blow you to pieces for any reason at any time no matter where you are.

Re: Canada has arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. It's this fiction that makes me believe that, despite it's flaws, America (along with other democratic countries) is a beacon compared to the rest of the world. A country locking up a foreigner for breaking their laws is so different than a country locking up said foreigner out of retaliation, which is what I imagine China will end up doing.

> A country locking up a foreigner for breaking their laws It is absolutely crazy to think that US law should apply worldwide. The article does not even mention if Wanzhou Meng is US citizen who broke US law in the US. This case might be retaliation and fear mongering similar to the case of Julian Assange which is pure retaliation and fear mongering.

If you want to do business with the US, there are certain conditions they'd like to enforce (e.g. don't resell their stuff to a list of countries). That's simple.

The other reality is that certain countries have cooperation agreements where they feel their laws are compatible enough that they agree to extradite individuals that break those laws. Seems pretty standard business to me.

If you know you're violating a high profile US law, dont travel to countries that are buddies with the US. Maybe she didn't know about the arrest request?

Re: Canada has arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver

#116
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't be sure, and that's a risk you'll always take when going to a country China can extradite you from. Singling China out is silly though, any country can do this, some just have more political clout to pull it off. For instance, Thailand sought extradition of those insulting their king abroad. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/29/thailand-bhumi...

This is mind-blowing and appalling. A 30-year prison sentence for posting on Facebook?

Every country has things the culture is sensitive of. That might be child pornography for the USA, or drugs for Malaysia, or comments about the king for Thailand.

They all have long prison sentences/death in their country, and light/no sentences in most of the rest of the world.

All countries have tried to go after people breaking their culturally sensitive thing abroad, with varying levels of success.

Re: Canada has arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver

#117
post #3

Can somebody explain to me on what authority the US can request the arrest of a Chinese national on Canadian soil for any action they took while conducting operations of a Chinese organization headquartered in China?

On the authority of Justin Trudeau having no balls.

Re: Canada has arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver

#118
post #76

In case people aren't aware, Canadian-Iranian relations aren't exactly in a good place right now.[1] Extraditing someone to the US for violating US sanctions against Iran aligns pretty well with Canada's interests right now. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93Iran_relations

Huawei also has a large R&D presence in Canada. Maintaining good relations with Huawei is more in Canada's interest.

Re: Canada has arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver

#119

I would not look forward to being an American businessman abroad in China right now. I think we're all used to the fiction that we live in a world that's totally governed by fairness and laws. That's been a pretty useful fiction for a long time, and in (some) of the developed world that's basically been how it's worked. But I really wonder how many shocks this system can take. I would bet money that an important US e…

Seriously. It's this fiction that makes me believe that, despite it's flaws, America (along with other democratic countries) is a beacon compared to the rest of the world. A country locking up a foreigner for breaking their laws is so different than a country locking up said foreigner out of retaliation, which is what I imagine China will end up doing.

This comment reeks of arrogance. American beacon? as if the tables were turned arresting someone out of retaliation isn't what the US would do.

Re: Canada has arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kinda scary that the US can do anything about straw purchases. US company sells to HK company, the stuff becomes property of HK company, US should be completely out of the goddamn picture at this point, HK company sells to Iran, done. The US govt must not be able to do anything about the HK company's intention to resell.

> The US govt must not be able to do anything about the HK company's intention to resell. What does that statement mean?

Ah, if it's not buying with the intention to resell that's illegal, but the resale itself, it means nothing.

I just think it's weird that the US law handles the resale case. Like they think they have authority over the whole world.

The US supposedly loves private property. But this transitive application of trade restrictions sounds like complete disrespect of private property. (And honestly even just any trade restrictions in general…)

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