Opinion | Where Spying Is the Law

Last week, the Supreme Court of British Columbia set a hearing date in extradition proceedings against Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, bringing her one step closer to being sent to the United States for trial. This is a make-or-break moment for Huawei’s international ambitions — and perhaps China’s — if only because the company is widely tipped to lead the world in soon-to-debut fifth-generation (5G) technologies.

Ms. Meng was arrested in Canada late last year on behalf of the American government, which has charged her with fraud and violating sanctions against Iran. But the United States’ beef against her goes deeper than any Iran connections and will have strategic significance well beyond her fate.

Huawei describes itself as a private, employee-owned business committed to bringing digital technology to the world. Some question that characterization, and the United States government sees the company as an arm of the authoritarian Chinese state, beholden to the interests of the Chinese Communist Party (C.C.P.). In that view, China’s objective is global dominance, and major Chinese companies like Huawei — nurtured strategically, richly resourced and now successfully embedded in the West — are commercial concerns on a political mission.