Huawei faces US trial over alleged trade secret theft and Iran sanctions violations

• US prosecutors have accused Huawei of running a criminal enterprise that allegedly stole American trade secrets and breached sanctions over two decades

• The company faces allegations including racketeering, money laundering, bank and wire fraud, and concealing its operations in Iran

• Huawei has denied criminal wrongdoing, arguing that prosecutors are portraying ordinary business activities as illegal conduct

Chinese technology company Huawei has gone on trial in a federal court in Brooklyn, where US prosecutors have alleged that it operated a criminal enterprise involving trade secret theft, financial fraud and sanctions violations for more than two decades, according to a media report.

The trial is expected to continue for about three months, Al Jazeera reported. It coincides with heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade, artificial intelligence, tariffs and access to critical technology.

Prosecutors told jurors that the alleged misconduct took place between approximately 1999 and 2020. The charges include racketeering, money laundering, bank and wire fraud, and violations of US sanctions on Iran.

Huawei is accused of stealing trade secrets from American companies and concealing the true nature of its business operations in Iran to process US dollar transactions through the financial system despite sanctions.

US authorities have also alleged that the company supplied equipment that could have helped Iranian authorities monitor protesters during demonstrations in 2009.

Huawei has denied criminal wrongdoing. Its defence argued that the company was being blamed for the conduct of individual employees and maintained that any such incidents had been addressed internally.

Lawyers for the company also accused prosecutors of attempting to present legitimate corporate activities as criminal conduct.

The case comes against the backdrop of years of restrictions imposed on Huawei by Washington. President Donald Trump’s administration placed the company on a US trade blacklist in 2019 and urged allied countries to exclude its equipment from their 5G networks.

US authorities have argued that Huawei’s technology poses national security and espionage risks. The company has consistently rejected such allegations.

Responding to the proceedings, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Beijing “firmly supports Chinese enterprises in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests”.

The trial overlaps with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s scheduled visit to Washington from 23 to 25 September. Trade, artificial intelligence, tariffs and access to strategically important technologies are expected to figure prominently in discussions during the visit.

The proceedings also come as the United States intensifies restrictions on China’s access to advanced American semiconductors and chipmaking technology amid growing competition over AI development.

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei recently warned that a Chinese lead in artificial intelligence would pose a serious threat to the United States and the wider world.

With IANS inputs