U.S. Agrees to Release Huawei Executive in Case That Strained Ties With China

Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive of Huawei Technologies, 

outside court in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Friday.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department reached an agreement on Friday clearing the way for a senior executive of Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecommunications giant, to return to China after admitting some wrongdoing in a sanctions violation case, removing one major irritant between the two superpowers.

Within hours, China reciprocated, releasing two Canadians whom it had held since shortly after the executive, Meng Wanzhou, was detained, and who had appeared to be jailed as hostages to Ms. Meng’s case.

The resolution of the criminal charges against Ms. Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, came in the midst of a downward spiral in military, technological and trade competition between Washington and Beijing.

In China, Ms. Meng is considered a member of the new Chinese royalty — technology executives who have used their power to expand China’s influence across the globe. In Washington, she became a symbol of the Cold War-like atmosphere in relations between Beijing and Washington — and the near simultaneous releases also had echoes of that era.