Boston, Dec. 5, 2018, — The Chinese embassy in Canada voiced its “firm opposition” to the reported arrest of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies today. The Canadian police, at the request of the US, arrested a Chinese citizen who did not violate any US or Canadian laws, the embassy said in a statement posted on its official website.
“The Chinese side expressed firm opposition and strong protest against such gross violations of human rights,” it said. “The Chinese side has made solemn representations to the United States and Canada, demanding that they immediately correct the wrongdoing and restore the personal freedom of Ms. Meng Wanzhou.”
The embassy said it will pay close attention to the development of the case and take every action to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens, according to the statement.
Huawei stated that it complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of the UN, US and EU.
“The company has been provided very little information regarding the charges and is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng. The company believes the Canadian and US legal systems will ultimately reach a just conclusion.” Huawei said in a statement
Ms. Meng holds a master’s degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Ms. Meng joined Huawei in 1993 and has held the positions of Director of the International Accounting Dept, CFO of Huawei Hong Kong, and President of the Accounting Mgmt Dept. Ms. Meng now serves as CFO of Huawei and Deputy Chairwoman of the Board.
In 2003, Ms. Meng established Huawei’s globally unified finance organization, and developed the standardized and unified organizational structure, financial processes, financial systems, and IT platforms.
Since 2005, Ms. Meng has led the founding of five shared service centers around the world, and she also promoted the completion of the Global Payment Center in Shenzhen, China. These centers have boosted Huawei’s accounting efficiency and monitoring quality, providing accounting services to sustain the company’s rapid overseas expansion.
Since 2007, Ms. Meng has been in charge of the Integrated Financial Services (IFS) Transformation Program, an eight-year partnership between Huawei and IBM. This transformation program helped Huawei develop its data systems and rules for resource allocation, operating efficiency improvement, process optimization, and internal controls. IFS also took Huawei’s financial management to a new level, creating new DNA for the company’s sustainable growth.
In recent years, Ms. Meng has focused on advancing fine-grained and comprehensive financial management at Huawei, working to align these efforts with the company’s long-term development plan. Ms. Meng has continually worked to improve treasury risk and tax compliance management systems, and has helped to make financial operations within the company more efficient, agile, and intelligent.