Meng Wanzhou facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Meng Wanzhou
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| 孟晚舟 | |||||||||||||||
Meng in 2022
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| Born |
Ren Wanzhou
13 February 1972 Chengdu, Sichuan, China
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| Other names | Cathy Meng | ||||||||||||||
| Education | Huazhong University of Science and Technology | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Businesswoman | ||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1993–present | ||||||||||||||
| Title | Deputy chairwoman and CFO, Huawei | ||||||||||||||
| Political party | Chinese Communist Party | ||||||||||||||
| Spouse(s) |
Liu Xiaozong
(m. 2007) |
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| Children | 4 | ||||||||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 孟晚舟 | ||||||||||||||
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| Assumed office 22 November 2019 |
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| Preceded by | Ren Zhengfei | ||||||||||||||
Meng Wanzhou (Chinese: 孟晚舟), born on February 13, 1972, is a Chinese businesswoman. She is also known as Cathy Meng or Sabrina Meng. People in China sometimes call her the "Princess of Huawei." She is a top leader at Huawei, a big technology company started by her father, Ren Zhengfei. She helps manage the company's money as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and is also a deputy chair of its board of directors.
On December 1, 2018, Meng Wanzhou was stopped at Vancouver International Airport in Canada. She was later placed under house arrest because the United States Department of Justice asked for her to be sent to the U.S. They said she had been involved in financial actions that went against U.S. rules about doing business with certain countries. On September 24, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that they had reached an agreement with Meng. This agreement meant that the charges against her would be dropped later if she followed certain conditions. Meng was then released from house arrest and returned to China on the same day. On December 2, 2022, a judge officially dropped all the charges against her.
Early Life and School
Meng Wanzhou was born as Ren Wanzhou on February 13, 1972, in Chengdu, a city in Sichuan province, China. Her father is Ren Zhengfei, and her mother is Meng Jun. Her mother's father, Meng Dongbo, was an important government official. Meng Wanzhou has a younger brother, Ren Ping, who also works at Huawei. When she was 16, her parents divorced, and she decided to use her mother's last name, Meng.
After finishing college in 1992, Meng Wanzhou worked at a bank for one year. Then, in 1993, she joined Huawei, which was a new company started by her father. She started as a secretary. Later, in 1997, she went back to school and earned a master's degree in accounting from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Her Career at Huawei
Meng Wanzhou said in an interview that her career really took off when she returned to Huawei in 1998. She began working in the finance department. Over the years, she held many important jobs there. These included leading the international accounting team and being the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Huawei in Hong Kong. She also directed the company's accounting management.
In 2011, Huawei first shared the names of its top leaders, and Meng was already listed as the CFO. In March 2018, she became one of the four vice chairpersons on the company's board. This made some people wonder if she would take over from her father one day. However, her father, Ren Zhengfei, has said that no one in his family has the right qualities to be his successor.
As of December 2018, Meng Wanzhou was the deputy chairwoman and CFO of Huawei. Huawei is China's largest private company, with 180,000 employees. In 2017, Forbes magazine listed Meng as the 8th most outstanding businesswoman in China.
On October 25, 2021, videos showed Meng being welcomed back by Huawei employees at the company's main office in Shenzhen. This confirmed that she had returned to work after a required quarantine period. She also celebrated her father's 77th birthday on the same day.
Her Time in Canada
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On December 1, 2018, Meng Wanzhou was stopped at Vancouver International Airport by Canadian border officers. They questioned her for three hours. The police then arrested her because the United States had asked for her to be sent to their country. They said she had committed fraud and tried to avoid U.S. rules about doing business with certain countries.
On January 28, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice officially announced charges against Meng. The first part of her court hearing in Canada began on January 20, 2020. It ended on May 27, 2020, when a court in British Columbia said the process to send her to the U.S. could continue. On February 13, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice also accused her of stealing trade secrets.
During the court hearings, Meng's lawyers made several claims against the U.S. and Canadian authorities. They said she was held illegally and that her rights were violated. The U.S. and Canadian lawyers responded to these claims. In August 2021, the judge in Canada questioned some parts of the case. The judge found it difficult to understand how the evidence from the U.S. supported their claims of wrongdoing.
On September 18, 2021, news reports said that the U.S. Department of Justice had talked with Huawei and Meng's lawyers. They offered to end the request to send her to the U.S. and drop the charges if Meng agreed to admit to some facts and pay a large fine.
On September 24, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an agreement with Meng. They would delay the criminal charges and withdraw their request to send her to the U.S. She agreed to a statement of facts, admitting she had made some untrue statements about Huawei's connection to another company and its business in Iran. However, she was allowed to formally deny the main charges and did not have to pay a fine. The Department of Justice said they would drop all charges against Meng on December 21, 2022, if she did not commit any other crimes before then.
Meng left Vancouver on the same day, September 24, 2021. She flew on a Chinese government plane back to Shenzhen, China. She had spent more than 1,000 days under house arrest in Vancouver as part of her bail. She arrived in Shenzhen on September 25, 2021, and was greeted like a hero. On December 1, 2022, the U.S. prosecution asked a judge to drop the charges against her, and the judge did so the next day.
Personal Life
Meng Wanzhou moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and became a permanent resident there in 2001. She has also been a permanent resident of Hong Kong since at least 2011.
In 2007, Meng married Liu Xiaozong, a businessman who used to work for Huawei for ten years. They have a daughter together. The couple owns two expensive homes in Vancouver. Meng also has three sons from a previous marriage.
See also
In Spanish: Meng Wanzhou para niños
- Detention of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig
