孟晚舟其人：從秘書到華為的“門面”

BEIJING — As Huawei’s finance chief and daughter of its founder, Meng Wanzhou has been a polished, professional face for a huge technology firm that long was opaque to the outside world.

北京——作為華為首席財務官和創(chuàng)始人之女，孟晚舟是這個長期以來對外界不大透明的科技巨頭里一張優(yōu)雅、專業(yè)的面孔。

Ms. Meng, the eldest daughter of Ren Zhengfei, the leader of the telecom equipment maker, has appeared before reporters to announce the company’s financial results. She has spoken at company events in New York; Cancún, Mexico; and beyond. She helped inaugurate centers in Britain, a key market for the Chinese giant’s expansion into the Western world.

孟晚舟是該電信設備制造商的負責人任正非的大女兒，在記者們面前宣布過公司的財務業(yè)績。她曾在紐約、墨西哥坎昆等地舉行的公司活動上發(fā)表講話，還曾幫助創(chuàng)立華為在英國的業(yè)務中心——那里是這個中國巨頭向西方世界擴張的關鍵市場。

She also sat on the board of a Huawei partner company in Hong Kong called Skycom Tech that Canadian authorities now say did business in Iran. And through that position and her job at Huawei, Ms. Meng may have personally been involved in tricking financial institutions into making transactions that violated United States sanctions against Iran, they said.

她還曾擔任過星通技術有限公司(Skycom Tech)的董事，現(xiàn)在加拿大當局表示，這家華為在香港的伙伴公司曾跟伊朗有業(yè)務往來。此外，加拿大當局還說，孟晚舟通過該職位以及在華為的工作，可能曾親自參與誘騙金融機構進行違反美國對伊朗制裁的交易。

That has thrust Ms. Meng, 46, into the center of what promises to be a complex diplomatic tussle between the United States and China. She was arrested Dec. 1 in Vancouver, Canada, while changing flights, at the request of the American government, which is seeking to extradite her. The action escalated what had already been a roller-coaster year of economic conflict between the two powers, ahead of tricky negotiations to end a brutal trade war.

這將46歲的孟晚舟推向了風口浪尖，接下來無疑將是美國和中國之間一場復雜的外交爭斗。當她12月1日在加拿大溫哥華轉機時，加拿大應美國政府要求將其逮捕，美方現(xiàn)尋求引渡她。在終止殘酷貿易戰(zhàn)的棘手談判到來之前，此舉令兩大國之間原本已像過山車一樣驚險的經濟沖突之年波瀾再起。

Huawei has said that it is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng, and China’s Foreign Ministry has called for her immediate release.

華為表示，并不知孟晚舟有任何不當行為，中國外交部也呼吁立即將其釋放。

But on Friday, in a bail hearing in British Columbia’s Supreme Court, Canadian authorities said Ms. Meng was accused of fraud. They said she had “direct involvement” with Huawei’s representations to banks, telling at least one financial executive that Huawei and Skycom were operating in Iran in strict compliance with United States sanctions when that was not the case.

但上周五，在不列顛哥倫比亞省最高法院的保釋聽證會上，加拿大當局稱，孟晚舟被指控犯有欺詐罪。他們說，她曾“直接參與”華為向銀行做的陳述，告訴過至少一名金融高管，華為和星通在伊朗的業(yè)務嚴格遵守美國的制裁規(guī)定，而事實并非如此。

Larry Kudlow, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said on CNBC on Friday that the United States had repeatedly warned Huawei about violating sanctions on Iran.

周五，白宮國家經濟委員會(National Economic Council)主任拉里·庫德洛(Larry Kudlow)在CNBC上說，就違反對伊朗制裁一事，美國已反復警告過華為。

“We have these sanctions on Iran, it runs against our policy, why shouldn’t we enforce that?” he said.

他說，“我們對伊朗實施了這些制裁，它違反了我們的政策，我們?yōu)槭裁床粦搹娭茍?zhí)行呢?”

For years, Ms. Meng’s name has appeared in connection with Huawei’s business in Iran, the subject of a yearslong United States investigation.

多年來，孟晚舟的名字常和華為在伊朗的業(yè)務一起出現(xiàn)，美國對這塊業(yè)務進行了長達一年的調查。

Reuters reported several years ago that Skycom, one of Huawei’s partners in that country, had tried to sell Hewlett-Packard equipment to an Iranian telecom carrier in 2010. The sale, which Huawei said was never completed, would have violated Washington’s ban on exporting computer products to Iran.

據(jù)路透社在幾年前報道，星通作為華為在伊朗的伙伴之一，曾于2010年試圖將惠普的設備出售給一家伊朗的電信運營商。這筆交易——華為稱從未完成——違反了華盛頓對伊朗的電腦產品出口禁令。

Huawei said at the time that its Iranian business was entirely lawful, and that it required its local partners to heed the same laws and regulations.

華為當時表示，它在伊朗的業(yè)務完全合法，并要求其在伊朗當?shù)氐暮献骰锇閲栏褡袷赝瑯拥姆煞ㄒ?guī)。

According to Hong Kong corporate filings, Ms. Meng was a member of Skycom’s board from February 2008 to April 2009.

香港的公司文件顯示，孟晚舟從2008年2月至2009年4月曾擔任星通董事會成員。

In a May 2007 filing, Skycom reported that all of the company’s shares had been transferred that year to a Hong Kong company called Hua Ying Management. In August 2007, Hua Ying reported to the Hong Kong authorities that its company secretary was Ms. Meng.

在2007年5月的一份文件中，星通稱，公司全部股份已于當年轉讓給香港一家叫做華盈管理的公司。2007年8月，華盈向香港有關當局提交的報告顯示，公司秘書(company secretary，公司秘書是美英等資本市場中的一個法定職位，角色類似執(zhí)行董事——編注。)是孟晚舟。

Ms. Meng, who started at Huawei as a secretary 25 years ago, is not its most prominent executive. But as chief financial officer, she has played a part in the company’s efforts over the past five years to become more transparent about its operations. After United States lawmakers labeled Huawei and another Chinese manufacturer, ZTE, as security threats, Huawei saw openness as a way to help dispel the swirl of suspicions surrounding it.

25年前在華為始任秘書的孟晚舟并非公司最突出的高管。但過去五年來，作為首席財務官，她在公司提升業(yè)務透明度的努力上發(fā)揮了作用。在美國立法者將華為及另一家中國的制造商中興列為安全威脅之后，華為將公開性視為一種驅散籠罩其上的不信任疑云的方式。

Some of the distrust has had to do with Ms. Meng’s powerful and secretive father.

這種不信任一定程度上與孟晚舟頗有權勢卻低調神秘的父親有關。

Mr. Ren, 74, was a member of the Chinese military’s engineering corps for nearly a decade before starting Huawei in 1987. His military service has informed American officials’ concerns that Huawei has links to the Chinese government or the Communist Party — something the company has strenuously denied.

任正非現(xiàn)年74歲，1987年創(chuàng)立華為之前，曾在中國軍方的工程部門服役近十年。他的軍旅生涯讓美國官員擔心，華為與中國政府或中國共產黨有聯(lián)系，華為對此矢口否認。

“She’s very presentable,” Duncan Clark, the chairman of the advisory firm BDA China, who once did consulting work for Huawei, said of Ms. Meng.

“她很得體，”博達克咨詢有限公司(BDA China) 董事長鄧肯·克拉克(Duncan Clark)對孟晚舟作如此評價，他曾為華為做過咨詢。

That is a stark contrast with her father, Mr. Clark added. “He is, for me at least, refreshingly unpolished and direct.”

這和她父親形成了鮮明的對比，克拉克補充說。“至少對我來講，他相當直截了當。”

For many people in China, Huawei represents how far their nation has come since it began climbing out of the economic ravages left by Chairman Mao — and how far it can continue to go.

對很多中國人而言，華為代表著從擺脫毛主席留下的經濟災難以來，中國已經走了多遠，以及還能走多遠。

Over the past three decades, Huawei has transformed from a small maker of telephone switches into the world’s largest supplier of telecommunications equipment, as well as the No. 2 smartphone maker, behind Samsung. The company has worked to build a consumer brand associated with quality and innovation. The name “Huawei” means “China’s Achievement.”

過去30年來，華為從一家小型的電話交換機制造商，轉變?yōu)槭澜缱畲蟮碾娦旁O備供應商，以及僅次于三星的世界第二大智能手機制造商。該公司致力于以品質和創(chuàng)新為特點建立一個消費者品牌。“華為”這一名字本身就有“中華有為”之意。

But after winning over cellular providers across the developing world with its cost-effective networking gear, the company faced a tougher task convincing large carriers in the wealthier nations of Europe and North America.

但在其以性價比高的網(wǎng)絡設備在發(fā)展中國家贏得了移動電話運營商的青睞之后，該公司面臨著說服歐洲和北美富裕國家的大型運營商這一更為艱巨的任務。

For many years, Mr. Ren’s reluctance to appear in public, combined with the company’s aversion to the news media, even after it had become a globe-straddling giant, fed the impression that he and Huawei had something to hide. How much of the company did he own? How did key decisions get made? Could there really be a military link?

多年來，由于任正非不愿出現(xiàn)公開場合露面，加上公司不愛跟新聞媒體打交道——即便是在它成為跨越全球的巨頭之后，給人留下了華為有什么要隱瞞的印象。他擁有公司多少股份?關鍵決定是如何作出的?是否真的會有軍方關聯(lián)?

Ms. Meng became part of an attempt to address such issues in January 2013, when she was brought before reporters in Beijing to discuss Huawei’s business outlook. The company, which is privately held, had published some financial details before. But it had never held a news conference of this kind.

2013年1月，孟晚舟成為了應對此類議題的團隊成員，當時她在北京出現(xiàn)在記者面前，談論華為的業(yè)務前景。這家私人控股的公司此前曾公布過一些財務信息。但卻從未召開過這樣的新聞發(fā)布會。

“We will honor our commitment to transparency and openness,” Ms. Meng said then.

“我們將履行我們對透明度和公開性的承諾，”孟晚舟當時表示。

This commitment has failed to persuade the United States government that Huawei’s products are safe to use, but the company has become a supplier to many of Europe’s telecom providers.

這一承諾未能使美國政府相信華為的產品安全可用，但該公司已成為多家歐洲電信運營商的供應商。

This year, Ms. Meng was made Huawei’s deputy chairwoman in addition to finance chief, leading some to wonder whether she might succeed her father at the top someday. But hers was not an heiress’s upbringing.

今年，孟晚舟被任命為華為副董事長兼首席財務官，這讓一些人猜測，她是否有一天會接替父親的位置，成為華為的最高領導者。但她并不是以一個繼承人的身份成長起來的。

Ms. Meng, who also uses the names Sabrina and Cathy, was born in 1972 in the western city of Chengdu, to Mr. Ren’s first wife, Meng Jun. The family moved to Shenzhen, in China’s south, during the turbulent economic reforms of the 1980s.

孟晚舟曾經使用薩布麗娜(Sabrina)和凱西(Cathy)這兩個英文名，她于1972年在中國西部城市成都出生，母親是任正非的第一任妻子孟軍。1980年代經濟改革動蕩期間，他們全家搬到了中國南方的深圳。

Shenzhen eventually became a hub of China’s mighty manufacturing base and home to Huawei’s global headquarters. Back then, it was a backwater.

深圳最終成為中國強大制造業(yè)基地中心，也是華為全球總部的所在地。當時，那里還是一個閉塞的地方。

As Ms. Meng later recalled in a Huawei employee newspaper, the walls of the family’s house let in all the neighbors’ chatter. The roof leaked. When it rained — which it did constantly in southern China — everything got wet.

孟晚舟后來在華為的一份員工報紙上回憶說，在她家，隔著墻可以聽到鄰居聊天。屋頂漏水。下雨時——中國南方經常下雨——所有的東西都淋濕了。

After college, Ms. Meng hoped to attend graduate school in the United States. A university gave her an offer, she recalled in a 2016 speech. But her visa was rejected because an American consular interviewer decided that her English was too poor.

大學畢業(yè)后，孟晚舟想去美國讀研究生。她在2016年的一次演講中回憶說，一所大學給了她邀請。但她被拒簽了，因為一位美國領事面試官認為她的英語太差。

Ms. Meng found a job at a bank instead. She was laid off after a year. In 1993, she joined fledgling Huawei as one of its three secretaries.

孟晚舟在一家銀行找了份工作。一年后她下崗了。1993年，她加入羽翼未豐的華為，成為公司的三名秘書之一。

She answered the phone, printed out documents and put together product catalogs. A few years later, after completing a master’s degree in management, she returned to Huawei, this time in the finance department. And she began climbing the ladder.

她接電話，打印文件，整理產品目錄。幾年后，她取得管理學碩士學位，回到華為，進入財務部。她開始一路高升。

As Huawei’s business spread across the world in the 2000s, Ms. Meng helped expand its accounting operations with it. Her brother, Ren Ping, works for a Huawei-owned company. Annabel Yao, a daughter of the elder Mr. Ren by his second wife, is an undergraduate at Harvard.

21世紀初，隨著華為的業(yè)務遍布全球，孟晚舟幫助華為會計業(yè)務的發(fā)展。她的哥哥任平在一家華為旗下公司工作。任正非和第二任妻子的女兒姚安娜目前在哈佛讀本科。