If friends of Huawei want to hit the US where it hurts, they should tackle the legitimacy of US sanctions

Beijing’s supporters won’t have a strong case against Washington if they focus on legal rights of individuals. They need to ask different questions, like: what gives the US the right to ban foreign companies from doing business with Iran?

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Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou shares a laugh with her driver as she leaves her home in Vancouver for the start of her extradition hearing on March 6. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 1:00am, 2 Apr 2019Updated: 2:44am, 2 Apr 2019

In the final stage of Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s bribery trial in New York last week, the prosecution held back, the judge doled out a lenient sentence, and the convicted man made a tearful apology.

The sentencing of Hong Kong’s former home affairs secretary offered hope for both sides. The United States government raised the risk factor for companies looking to grow internationally by paying corrupt fixers for no-bid contracts. And a 69-year-old man, who erred but didn’t do grave harm to anyone in the end, is likely to get most of his remaining years back.

From his arrest at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to a likely early parole, Ho may end up spending less than three years behind bars.

Meanwhile, Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou is restricted to Vancouver, a city she apparently likes since she owns two multimillion-dollar properties in its stylish neighbourhoods of Dunbar and Shaughnessy.

Meng is living in one of them and can spend her days anywhere in the Vancouver area while the Canadian judicial system weighs the evidence presented by the US that she deceived banks about her company’s alleged connection to a telecoms equipment supplier that sells to Iran.