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WASHINGTON — Talks between the Ministry of Justice and a senior executive of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei had stretched for more than 12 months between the two presidential administrations and were reduced to one overarching dispute: whether Meng Wangzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, would do so. admit any wrongdoing.

Since her arrest in 2018, Ms. Meng had refused to admit that ten years ago, Huawei had misled global banking conglomerate HSBC about its dealings with Iran. bail him 2nd Luxury homes in Vancouver. In mid-September, as a Canadian judge was about to decide whether to extradite her to the United States, federal prosecutors told Ms. Meng’s lawyers that they were ready to step away from settlement negotiations and bring in technical copyright Ms. Meng. China will be tried in Brooklyn.

A breakthrough followed: On September 19, after a new attorney on his behalf entered the case, he accepted a “statement of facts” that the Justice Department believed would be valuable in Huawei’s ongoing lawsuit against him. has been the focus of attention of the Department of Justice and American national security agencies for years.

Five days later, Ms. Meng boarded a plane to China to meet a hero. Two Canadians held hostage on essentially fabricated charges were returning to Canada with two young Americans who were denied exit from China for three years because of a case involving their father wanted by Chinese authorities.

The seemingly well-organized exchange, details verified by government officials, diplomats, and others with knowledge of the case, raised a number of questions. Was this the first sign of a half-hearted rapprochement between Washington and Beijing after a downward spiral in their relationship that has no precedent in modern history? Was it a face-saving victory for both sides that recaptured their citizens, and was it a troubling end to relations that emerged in a phone call between President Biden and President Xi Jinping last month?

Or was it a feat for China’s “hostage diplomacy” to use a phrase from an incriminating letter sent by Indiana Representative Jim Banks to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday?

Banks wrote of Ms. Meng: “Letting her go without a slap on the wrist, “The United States is publishing that we are not very serious about enforcing our sanctions laws against prospective criminals. This is a dream come true for Iran, Hamas, Russia, North Korea and all other entities slapped by our sanctions.”

From press secretary Jen Psaki to policymakers devising a strategy to deal with the complexities of simultaneously competing with, controlling, and cooperating with China, White House officials have said that any deal – or change in China denies that. Chinese policy. “No connection,” said Miss Psaki.

The Chinese told another story, flooding the press and social media with stories portraying Ms. Meng as a victim. The charges against him were in retaliation for China’s efforts to connect the world with Chinese-led 5G networks, he said.

Some senior officials in Washington believe that the nearly simultaneous release of two Canadians and two Americans was designed to make it seem like a political decision of the Biden administration, despite their protests and not the independent decision of prosecutors insisted on by the White House. was in the game. A senior administration official said it was in China’s interests to liken it to a Cold War spy swap, as it would affect Ms. Meng’s narrative that it was nothing more than promoting Huawei’s worldwide business.

(After all, he agreed to a deferred prosecution settlement that would result in all charges being dropped, a tact missing from the Chinese accounts, and any mention of “statement of the facts”.)

“We cannot determine how the Chinese or others are managing their business there,” Ms Psaki said on Monday. “This one is a little different.”

However, Ms. Meng’s arrival in China also undermined Huawei’s long insistence that it is completely independent from the Chinese government and will never allow its networks to be controlled by government officials. When he landed, the event was broadcast live on state television and the buildings were illuminated during the celebrations. People’s Daily described it as “a glorious victory for the Chinese people” that would pave the way for other victories. He spoke of his commitment to the Communist Party and a company operating under Chinese laws and guidance.

In Washington, Huawei has long been the center of American fears of technological dependence on Chinese firms. Classified and unclassified studies have explored the extent to which it can use its control over global networks to reroute or shut down internet traffic. Documents published more than eight years ago by Edward J. Snowden revealed a secret The National Security Agency’s operation against Huawei, codenamed “Shotgiant”, to infiltrate Huawei’s networks and figure out ownership of the company.

The Trump administration has sought to stem the spread of Huawei networks by threatening to cut off European nations from American intelligence. The Biden administration has tried a softer approach, including an effort to promote technologies that will offer American companies and their allies a competitive alternative. Officials insist none of that has changed with Ms. Meng’s release – and they suspect that China is now willing to deal with a host of other concerns with the United States, from cyber activities to trade disputes.

“I don’t think anything has changed in a meaningful way that means China has to play by the rules,” trade secretary Gina Raimondo told NPR on Tuesday. Said.

With so much geopolitical rivalry going on, the possibility of a deal for Ms. Meng’s release seemed uncertain even a month ago, despite Ms. Meng’s three-year detention in Canada.

Just after Canada detained Ms. Meng, 49, at Vancouver International Airport, China arrested and imprisoned two Canadian men, Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur. They were charged with espionage.

Ms. Meng’s arrest has also complicated hopes that China will allow two American brothers, Victor Liu, a student at Georgetown University, and Cynthia Liu, a consultant at McKinsey & Company, to leave the country. President Donald J. Trump said he discussed the Liu brothers with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a summit in Argentina in late 2018, said Evan Medeiros, a professor at Georgetown University who was involved in the efforts to free the brothers.

But Ms. Meng was detained the day the summit ended, and a former Trump administration official who was at the event said it killed all hope that the two young Americans would be released. China has barely concealed the fact that their fates are intertwined with the lawsuit against Ms. Meng and thus Huawei.

Like several others who disclosed the details of the case, the former official asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.

Talks were revived in May when Ms. Meng recruited Washington authorized attorney William W. Taylor, who had won a not-guilty verdict in another high-profile case involving a prominent Washington lawyer in Washington. Meanwhile, Canada began to pressure Washington to do something about the two Canadians held in China. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has publicly called for their release, and the case has been a frequent topic of conversation with American diplomats.

However, officials in the administration are adamant that the Ministry of Justice is protected from these pressures.

President Xi also brought up Ms. Meng’s fate, most recently in a phone call with Mr. Biden on September 9. Management officials said Mr Biden remained silent. However, at the time of the phone call, they did not say whether the Justice Department knew of discussions with him about a possible deferred prosecution agreement.

A week later, the Justice Department told Ms. Meng’s team that she would withdraw from the deal unless she admitted she had done wrong. Although justice lawyers knew they could lose the extradition case, they feared that without testimony on those who tried to sell telecommunications equipment to Iran, the department’s lawsuit against Huawei would fail. And they didn’t want to set a precedent that Beijing could powerfully weaponize its way out of legal accountability.

On 19 September, Mr. Taylor announced to prosecutors that he would make concessions and presented his “statement of the facts” without pleading guilty and without fines. While the statement admitted almost all of the ministry’s allegations against him, the official defense would have been “not guilty”.

Now the Justice Department can use his testimony as evidence in the Huawei case. Clearly, he is aggressively pursuing this case: Just days after the settlement was announced, prosecutors said in a court filing that they had received Huawei’s financial records.

Dan Bilefsky in Montreal and Michael Forsythe Contributed to reporting in New York.