China’s Huawei Technologies faces racketeering trial in New York

China's Huawei Technologies stands trial in New York on racketeering charges, accused of stealing technology, plotting to steal U.S. trade secrets, and committing wire and bank fraud. Jury selection begins on Tuesday. The indictment alleges that Huawei and its subsidiaries did business in North Korea despite U.S. sanctions, and installed surveillance equipment that aided Iran in spying on protesters during the 2009 anti-government demonstrations in Iran.

Huawei, the world's largest supplier of wireless telecom network equipment, is barred from selling its products to U.S. carriers due to security concerns. The company is also banned by Western allies like Canada and Britain. Huawei manufactures consumer electronics but has been shut out of other business sectors. During President Trump's first term, the U.S. government raised national security concerns about Huawei, leading to lobbying among Western allies against using the company's products in their next-generation high-speed wireless networks.

The U.S. filed criminal charges in early 2019 and has expanded the allegations since then. China claims the U.S. is engaging in "economic bullying" and improperly using national security to suppress Chinese companies. Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer and daughter of the company's founder, was arrested in Canada in late 2018 on a U.S. extradition request but was released in September 2021 as part of a prisoner swap.

The U.S. dropped the extradition request and dismissed the fraud charges against Meng. The world's biggest network gear maker has struggled to maintain its market share under sanctions that have blocked access to most U.S. processor chips and other technology, leading Huawei to increase its development of computer chips and other advanced technologies.