Grassley Statement on Reported Arrest of Huawei Executive

Press Release

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa issued the following statement on the recently reported arrest of Huawei's Global Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou.

"The arrest of Meng Wanzhou underscores a troubling trend of Chinese companies and state actors flouting the rule of law and stealing from U.S. companies. Ms. Wanzhou's arrest comes on the heels of the October arrest of Yanjun Xu, an operative for the Chinese Ministry of State who allegedly targeted GE Aviation and other companies to recruit their employees in order to steal trade secrets. Two Chinese intelligence officers and a team of hackers were also charged in October in a separate case involving theft of commercial aviation technology. In November, the Justice Department announced charges against a Chinese state-owned enterprise for stealing trade secrets of an American semiconductor company.

"American intellectual property and trade secrets are basic ingredients for a strong and growing economy, and we must make every effort to protect them. I'm holding a hearing next week on non-traditional forms of espionage by Chinese government and private actors. I hope that this hearing sheds further light on how other countries are harming our national security and American ingenuity"

Reports indicate Ms. Wanzhou and Huawei are being charged with violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. In 2012, the House Intelligence Committee issued a report that concluded Huawei represented a national security threat. The report also concluded Huawei was possibly violating U.S. laws and, at minimum, not following international standards of business behavior. In 2013, reports linked Ms. Wanzhou to violations of sanctions against Iran. Huawei admitted having contracts with Iranian telecoms at the time but denied any violations of law.

Huawei is China's largest telecoms company and among the biggest in the world. Without international respect for sanctions regimes and the rule of law, those measures are rendered ineffective.

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