Huawei begins defense in US criminal trial — South China Morning Post

Chinese technology company Huawei has begun presenting its defense in a criminal trial at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The company has pleaded not guilty to 14 charges, including racketeering conspiracy, bank and wire fraud, and theft of trade secrets.

As reported by the South China Morning Post, the prosecution concluded its presentation of evidence after nearly seven weeks of hearings, calling 61 witnesses. US prosecutors claim that Huawei operated as a criminal enterprise, stole intellectual property, including materials related to US operator T-Mobile's Tappy robot, and violated US sanctions against Iran to expand globally.

Huawei's defense position

The first defense witness was Huawei senior executive and board member Yang Chaobin. He told the court about the company's technological developments in telecommunications networks, mobile devices, and the development of industry standards. In particular, he spoke about the SingleRAN architecture, in whose creation he participated in 2008. This solution enables operators to use several radio access technologies on a single hardware platform and in a unified base-station configuration.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Huawei's defense insists that the company's growth and success are the result of its own research and development rather than unlawful actions. Yang said that the company is interested in protecting intellectual property rights in China and other countries. According to data presented in court, Huawei has 210,000 full-time employees worldwide, with about 110,000 involved in research and development.

Testimony and the prosecution's position

During cross-examination, an assistant US attorney questioned Yang's impartiality, asking in particular about his compensation and how fully he could be informed about all compliance issues at a company of such scale. In response, Yang noted that Huawei has more than 210,000 employees.

Judge Ann Donnelly also allowed the prosecution to use statements made by Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in 2021. As a condition of her release after nearly three years of detention in Vancouver, she admitted that in 2013 she had misled an HSBC representative about Huawei's ties to its affiliate Skycom, which operated in Iran. The trial is expected to continue at least until November.