U.S. Reaches Agreement to Release Huawei Executive in Case That Strained Ties With China
The New York Times
The case suggested that the Biden administration and the government of President Xi Jinping could come to some kind of accommodations in a dispute that included allegations of hostage-taking on both sides.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department reached an agreement on Friday clearing the way for a senior executive of Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecommunications giant, to return to China after admitting some wrongdoing in a sanctions violation case, removing one major irritant between the two superpowers.
The resolution of the criminal charges against the executive, Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, came in the midst of a downward spiral in military, technological and trade competition between Washington and Beijing.
In China, Ms. Meng is considered a member of the new Chinese royalty — technology executives who have used their power to expand China’s influence across the globe. In Washington, she became a symbol of the Cold War-like atmosphere in relations between Beijing and Washington.
