China has accused the United States of “political manipulation” after prosecutors on Monday brought criminal charges against Huawei and its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou for allegedly conspiring to violate US sanctions on Iran. The lawsuit will cast a pall over a second round of trade talks starting today in Washington. The trade talks are not just about trade, investments, goods and services or market access. More importantly, they are also about US-China competition over technology. This issue is part and parcel of that tech war between the two countries, said Assoc Prof Li Mingjiang, coordinator of the China programme at RSIS.