Letters | Amid Huawei outrage in China, remember the fate of Korea’s Lotte

I do not claim to be an expert as to whether Huawei is guilty of espionage. However, I do believe in the impartiality of Canadian courts and it certainly appears that Meng Wanzhou is being treated well and given access to the best legal defence.

Meanwhile, Huawei’s prospects continue to be much better than those companies to which China has handed down a commercial death sentence.

The most stark example of this in recent times was that pronounced on Lotte Corporation, a Korean department store operator whose retail outlets across mainland China were successful and well-established – not least as the shopfront for Korean cosmetics which are highly regarded in China as a beneficiary of the Chinese love affair with Korean TV shows and soap operas.

All this came to an end when the South Korean government implemented a missile defence system within its own borders in partnership with the US, to protect against attacks from the North. The land on which this Terminal High Altitude Air Defence (THAAD) system was built belonged to Lotte Corporation. China disapproved of THAAD and requested that it not be put into operation, but the Korean government proceeded anyway. That prompted an online boycott of the brand and, not long after, nearly 90 per cent of Lotte Mart stores in China were ordered to be closed.