{"id":4784,"date":"2026-09-20T16:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T16:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=4784"},"modified":"2026-09-20T16:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T16:59:12","slug":"why-have-us-prosecutors-labelled-chinas-huawei-a-criminal-enterprise-explainer-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=4784","title":{"rendered":"Why have US prosecutors labelled China\u2019s Huawei a criminal enterprise? | Explainer News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chinese technology giant Huawei is facing a landmark criminal trial in the United States amid Washington\u2019s long-running tech rivalry with Beijing.<\/p>\n

The trial began in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on September 9, with US prosecutors portraying Huawei as a criminal enterprise that spent two decades stealing technology from US companies, deceiving banks and circumventing sanctions on Iran.<\/p>\n

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Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n

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Huawei has pleaded not guilty and says the US government is attempting to turn ordinary business disputes and the actions of individual employees into evidence of a company-wide conspiracy.<\/p>\n

The trial is expected to last about three months and overlaps with Chinese President Xi Jinping\u2019s September 23-25 visit to Washington, where trade, artificial intelligence, tariffs and access to critical technologies are likely to be on the agenda.<\/p>\n

Here is what you need to know:<\/p>\n

What are the allegations against Huawei?<\/h2>\n

US prosecutors have accused the company of racketeering, money laundering, bank and wire fraud, sanctions violations, obstruction and conspiring to steal trade secrets from five US technology companies.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say the alleged wrongdoing stretched from about 1999 to 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheft, lies, cover-up,\u201d Justice Department lawyer Taylor Stout said in his opening remarks.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege Huawei stole technology, including internet-router source code from Cisco and a robotic arm used by T-Mobile to test phones.<\/p>\n

They also accuse Huawei of concealing the nature of its operations in Iran to move US dollars through the financial system despite US sanctions.<\/p>\n

The government also alleges that Huawei supplied equipment that could help Iranian authorities monitor protesters during demonstrations in 2009.<\/p>\n

How has Huawei responded?<\/h2>\n

Huawei, a major manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, denies any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

The tech giant\u2019s lawyer Brian Heberlig told jurors the case was about \u201ccompetition, not conspiracy. Innovation, not theft. Ordinary business dealings, not criminal conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heberlig accused prosecutors of \u201ccherry-picking isolated events\u201d to construct a conspiracy that did not exist. Huawei\u2019s defence says some incidents involved individual employees whose actions were dealt with internally, rather than reflecting company policy.<\/p>\n

He told jurors that prosecutors will describe routine activities by global tech companies \u201cbut will twist those ordinary activities to try to make them look criminal\u201d.<\/p>\n

Huawei separately described the broader prosecution as an attempt to undermine its competitiveness, saying the US government\u2019s \u201coverarching narrative is demonstrably false\u201d and that it had \u201cthe utmost respect for intellectual property\u201d.<\/p>\n

The case originated during Donald Trump\u2019s first presidency. His administration placed Huawei on a US trade blacklist in 2019 and pushed allies to exclude the company from 5G networks, arguing its equipment could present national security and espionage risks.<\/p>\n

Huawei has repeatedly denied that its technology is used for spying.<\/p>\n

What has China\u2019s response been?<\/h2>\n

Beijing has strongly criticised the prosecution, which has come weeks ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping\u2019s visit to the US.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said \u201cthe Chinese government firmly opposes the US side\u2019s suppression and containment of Chinese enterprises\u201d, when asked about the case and the American prosecutor\u2019s \u201ccriminal enterprise\u201d description.<\/p>\n

China \u201cfirmly supports Chinese enterprises in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests\u201d, the spokesperson said at a regular news conference.<\/p>\n

What is Huawei, and has the tech giant faced investigations before?<\/h2>\n

Huawei is one of the world\u2019s largest telecommunications<\/a> equipment manufacturers. It also produces smartphones and has become increasingly important to China\u2019s semiconductor and AI industries.<\/p>\n

Its activities have drawn scrutiny well beyond the current US trial.<\/p>\n

Belgian prosecutors launched an investigation in 2025 into suspected bribery involving the European Parliament allegedly for Huawei\u2019s benefit.<\/p>\n

The European Parliament subsequently suspended access for Huawei lobbyists. Huawei said it had \u201czero-tolerance\u201d for corruption and would cooperate with authorities.<\/p>\n

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou<\/a> made worldwide headlines in 2018 when she was arrested on a US warrant after landing in Vancouver, straining both US-China and China-Canada relations.<\/p>\n

The warrant was filed after a sealed indictment accused her and the company of bank fraud for\u00a0misleading HSBC\u00a0and other banks about Huawei\u2019s business in Iran.<\/p>\n

She returned to China in 2021 under a deferred prosecution agreement, and the charges against her were later dismissed.<\/p>\n

Admissions Meng made as part of that agreement can, however, be presented as evidence in Huawei\u2019s current trial after a US judge ruled them admissible<\/a> in June.<\/p>\n

They are legally separate but form part of a much wider economic and technological competition between Washington and Beijing.<\/p>\n

Huawei became one of the most prominent targets of US restrictions during Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n

Since then, the rivalry has expanded from telecommunications and 5G into semiconductors and AI, with Washington restricting China\u2019s access<\/a> to advanced US chips and chipmaking technology.<\/p>\n

Last week, Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, warned that a \u201cChinese lead in AI would pose grave danger for the US and the world\u201d and urged Washington to maintain restrictions on cutting-edge AI tech. He also called for action against alleged \u201cdistillation\u201d of US models by Chinese AI laboratories.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s Foreign Ministry on September 14 accused the US tech giant of \u201cfearmongering\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFomenting various threats, engaging in confrontation and malicious competition will only disrupt the process of global governance of artificial intelligence and is not in the interests of any party,\u201d said ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun.<\/p>\n

The state-backed Global Times newspaper went further, describing Amodei\u2019s proposal as a \u201cCold War playbook\u201d whose real purpose was to curb Chinese AI development and preserve US technological dominance.<\/p>\n

China and the US were engaged in a tit-for-tat tariff war at the beginning of Trump\u2019s presidency in 2025. The trade war ended in a truce, but the world\u2019s two largest economies have failed to strike a trade deal.<\/p>\n

Beijing, meanwhile, has used its dominance of critical minerals as leverage and accelerated efforts to build domestic alternatives to American technology.<\/p>\n

Currently, China controls most of the world\u2019s rare earth minerals, including metals that are necessary for the manufacture of many technological items, from smartphones to fighter jets. The world\u2019s second-largest economy has 60 percent of these minerals and processes 90 percent of the world\u2019s supply.<\/p>\n

In October, Beijing announced plans to require foreign companies to obtain permission to export Chinese rare earth equipment or material.<\/p>\n

This meant companies anywhere in the world would need a licence to export rare earth magnets and certain semiconductor materials that contain even trace amounts of minerals sourced from China or produced using Chinese technology.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s Ministry of Commerce said its export controls on rare earths<\/a>, which Trump had labelled \u201csurprising\u201d and \u201cvery hostile\u201d, were introduced in response to a series of US measures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Chinese technology giant Huawei is facing a landmark criminal trial in the United States amid Washington\u2019s long-running tech rivalry with Beijing. The trial began in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on September 9, with US prosecutors portraying Huawei as a criminal enterprise that spent two decades stealing technology from US companies, deceiving banks and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t