“HSBC was the one who ‘handed the knife.’” That was the verdict of a column on China.com.cn, a website backed by the State Council Information Office and the China International Publishing Group, which took aim at the London-headquartered bank on Tuesday in July 2020.
The piece, published under the byline Tang Hua and signed by three editors, said HSBC’s part in the case of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was “already clear” and its credibility “wiped out.” Reuters reported on the commentary.
The column’s warning
HSBC had put out a statement on Saturday saying it took no part in the US Department of Justice’s decision to investigate Huawei and bore no “malice” toward the company. The column called the denial “meaningless.”
It went further. With its reputation “at rock bottom,” the column said, HSBC “may struggle to continue to enjoy treatment in China where it can break the pot it eats food from.” An HSBC spokeswoman in China reportedly declined to comment on the article.
Other state outlets, including the People’s Daily and China Global Television Network, have also targeted the bank in the past week, according to Reuters. HSBC earns most of its revenue in Hong Kong and mainland China. Last month it reportedly set aside its usual political neutrality to back Beijing’s national security law for Hong Kong.
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 2020 she lost a legal fight in a Canadian court against extradition to the United States, though the extradition case is still going.
The US accuses Meng and Huawei of conspiring to defraud HSBC and other banks by misrepresenting the company’s link to Skycom Tech Co Ltd, which operated in Iran. Washington says Skycom was an unofficial Huawei subsidiary used to hide the company’s business there. Huawei has always said Skycom was a local business partner.
In June, Reuters reported on internal Huawei documents that it said appear to show an effort to cover up the Skycom relationship. The news agency said the documents show “deep links” between Skycom and Meng, and that Huawei effectively controlled the company.
