Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou Steps Closer to US-China Tech-War Front Line as Chairwoman, Wall Street Journal, Mar. 31, 2023.
By Dan Strumpf
Eighteen months ago, she was a high-profile symbol of a bigger tech battle between China and the US Now, she is set to take the helm of a Chinese telecommunications company at the leading edge of the country’s push to break free from dependence on America for key technologies. Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer at Huawei Technologies Co., is set to begin a six-month rotation as company chairwoman on Saturday, a day after the release of the company’s annual results in Shenzhen, China. The results showed an unusual, steep drop in net income last year for the technology giant. Her rising stature since her return in a high-stakes prisoner swap with Canada marks a turnaround in fortunes for the executive, who spent nearly three years in Vancouver fighting extradition to the US on fraud charges linked to allegations Huawei violated sanctions imposed by Washington on Iran. Her elevation places her in the driver’s seat as the company presses to replace foreign technology, expand into new business lines and develop its own supply chains after years of US restrictions. Now a national hero, Ms. Meng is a rare face of China’s long-term ambitions to establish supremacy in critical technologies amid rising nationalism at home and a US that is working to check its rise.
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