Stock markets across Asia saw steep falls on Thursday after news emerged that a senior executive of Chinese technology giant Huawei had been arrested in Canada.
Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, was reportedly arrested on December 1; however, news of the arrest was not immediately released. Wanzhou faces potential extradition to the US over alleged violations of sanctions on Iran by Huawei. She is due to appear for a bail hearing on Friday.
China condemned the arrest of the Huawei executive and urged Canada and the US to correct the “wrongdoing”. The action against the Huawei executive saw tech stocks in the stock markets at Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo and Seoul get hammered. Prominent stocks such as Sony were 3 per cent down in Tokyo, while Samsung was almost 2 per cent lower. Other concerns pulling shares down were worries about an upcoming OPEC meeting to decide oil output.
The fall in Asian markets also reflected on the BSE Sensex, which fell over 300 points on Thursday morning.
The arrest of the Huawei executive triggered renewed worries that the US-China trade war will resume following a brief lull in the wake of a tariff “ceasefire” between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping last week. The US government has been persuading allies to stop using Huawei equipment, citing security concerns given fears of Chinese spying using the company's assets.
On Wednesday, British telecom firm BT announced Huawei equipment would not be at the “core” of its '5G' systems, when they are rolled out. In November, New Zealand imposed a ban on the use of Huawei equipment, while in August, Australia banned Huawei and ZTE from supplying 5G-standard equipment.
(With agency inputs)
