The arrest in Canada of Ms Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of the world's largest wireless equipment company, headquartered in China, is the clearest sign yet that the war over who will control global communications in the future has spilt dramatically into the open.

It would be easy to mistake Ms Meng - now free on bail, under house arrest and round-the-clock surveillance in Vancouver - as a bargaining chip in the fight between China and the United States over tariffs and trade practices. President Donald Trump himself suggested as much earlier last week, when he said he might intervene on her behalf if the US received favourable treatment in trade talks from Beijing in return.