New Delhi, Sep 21 (IANS): Chinese technology firm Huawei is on trial in federal court in Brooklyn where US prosecutors accused the company of operating a two decade‑long criminal enterprise that stole trade secrets from US, a new report has said.
The report from Al Jazeera said US also accused China of defrauding banks and evading sanctions on Iran.
“The trial is expected to last about three months and overlaps with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s September 23-25 visit to Washington, where trade, artificial intelligence, tariffs and access to critical technologies are likely to be on the agenda,” the report said.
Prosecutors told jurors the alleged misconduct stretched from about 1999 to 2020 and comprised of racketeering, money‑laundering, bank and wire fraud and sanctions violations.
Further, Huawei allegedly concealed the nature of its operations in Iran to move US dollars through the financial system despite US sanctions. The government also alleged that Huawei supplied equipment that could help Iranian authorities monitor protesters during demonstrations in 2009.
Huawei in its defence said it was blamed for incidents done by individual employees whose actions were dealt with internally.
US prosecutors are twisting ordinary activities by the company “to try to make them look criminal”.
US President Donald Trump’s administration in 2019 Huawei on a US trade blacklist and pushed allies to exclude the company from 5G networks, arguing its equipment involved national security and espionage risks.
On Thursday, a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson last week said China “firmly supports Chinese enterprises in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests”.
Amid AI rivalry between US and China, Washington has restricted Beijing’s access to advanced US chips and chipmaking technology. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic had warned last week that a “Chinese lead in AI would pose grave danger for the US and the world”.
