Woman arrested in Vancouver helped turn Huawei into household name in China
VANCOUVER — The tech executive whose arrest in Vancouver has sparked outrage from China is the well-educated daughter of a wealthy former military man who founded what eventually became one of the world’s largest telecom companies.
Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer and deputy chairwoman of Huawei Technologies, was arrested at Vancouver’s airport while in transit over the weekend and faces extradition to the United States on unspecified charges.
Meng is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei from his first marriage. Chinese enterprises are often family businesses and family members take the best spots if they are qualified and interested, said Neil Abramson, a retired professor of business strategy at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business.
“She’s the daughter of the chairman so she would be like Ivanka Trump. She would be the Ivanka Trump of Huawei,” said Abramson, adding that Huawei is like the Apple of China and she’s an extremely important businessperson.