Credit: Dreamstime
Huawei Technologies is set to announce a lawsuit against the United States, ratcheting up its response to a campaign aimed at closing it out of Western markets for fear its telecoms equipment could be used by Beijing for spying.
The privately owned firm has embarked on a public relations and legal offensive over the past two months as Washington lobbies allies to abandon Huawei when building fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks, centering on a 2017 Chinese law requiring companies cooperate with national intelligence work.
Founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei has said Huawei, the world's biggest telecoms gear maker, has never and will never share data with China's government.
The planned legal action and public relations outreach compare with a more restrained response in December emphasising "trust in justice" when its chief financial officer, Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Vancouver at US request.
The United States has accused Meng - Ren's daughter - of bank and wire fraud related to breaches of trade sanctions against Iran.
Huawei's legal action, first reported by the New York Times on Monday, comes after news that Meng was suing Canada's government for procedural wrongs in her arrest.
Days earlier, Canada authorised a hearing for an extradition request, quashing Chinese hopes of a rejection on grounds that Meng's arrest was politically motivated.
The case had strained relations with China, which this week accused two arrested Canadians of stealing state secrets in a move widely seen as retribution for Meng's arrest.
While Meng is under house arrest in Vancouver, it is unclear where the two Canadians are being detained in China. Sources previously told Reuters that at least one of the Canadians did not have access to legal representation.
(Reporting by Sijia Jiang; Editing by James Pomfret and Christopher Cushing)
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.