“HSBC was the one who ‘handed the knife.’” That was the verdict of a Chinese state-backed website in a column that took aim at the London-headquartered bank over the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou.
Reuters reported that the editorial appeared on China.com.cn, a site backed by the State Council Information Office and the China International Publishing Group. It ran under the byline Tang Hua and was signed by three editors. It accused HSBC of playing a “malicious” part in Meng’s detention and wrote that the bank’s role in the case “is already clear” and its credibility “has also been wiped out.”
HSBC had already pushed back. According to Reuters, the bank said in a statement on Saturday that it took no part in the US Department of Justice’s decision to investigate Huawei and bore no “malice” toward the company. The column dismissed that denial as “meaningless” and went on to suggest HSBC “may struggle to continue to enjoy treatment in China where it can break the pot it eats food from.” A spokeswoman for HSBC in China reportedly declined to comment on the article.
Other state media join in
The website was not alone. Reuters said other official Chinese outlets, including the People’s Daily newspaper and the China Global Television Network, had also gone after HSBC in the past week.
The timing is awkward for the bank. It reportedly broke from its usual political neutrality the month before to back Beijing’s imposition of a national security law in Hong Kong, and it earns the bulk of its revenue in Hong Kong and mainland China.
The Meng case
Canadian authorities arrested Meng at Vancouver airport in December 2018 over alleged sanctions busting with Iran and misleading banks. She denies the charges. Earlier in the year she lost a legal fight against extradition to the United States, though that case is still going.
The US accuses Meng and Huawei of conspiring to defraud HSBC and other banks by misrepresenting Huawei’s ties to Skycom Tech Co Ltd, an alleged front company that operated in Iran. Huawei has always said Skycom was a local business partner there. Washington believes it was an unofficial subsidiary used to hide Huawei’s Iranian business.
In June, Reuters reported on newly obtained internal Huawei documents that allegedly show the company tried to cover up its relationship with Skycom. The news agency said the papers prove “deep links” between Skycom and Meng and show how Huawei effectively controlled the firm.
