Big Business - International Law / The future of companies

TimMultinational companies are getting bigger and bigger. This show will look at what the future might hold. Will countries start to use that power for themselves? And could the law make companies a force for good?

Huawei: the company that many fear is being used by China - for spying.

And how could the immense power of corporations and their billionaires be used to help people around the world?

Of course, countries will still be powerful in 50 years' time. Nations will go on competing with each other. Businesses have been used as part of that in the past. Is Chinese phone company, Huawei, already showing how old rivalries might look in the future?

Huawei equipment has been used in new mobile networks in many western countries - you might even own a Huawei phone. But western intelligence chiefs warn it could be used by China for spying or even sabotage. They're worried the Chinese government controls the company. Lots of nations are banning its technology.

CovingIt goes all the way back to them being founded by a former officer of the Chinese military, to the fact that their organisational structure isn't well know, and the fact that there are some pretty damning lawsuits out there regarding the theft of trade secrets.

TimMeng Wanzhou, daughter the company's founder and also Huawei's chief finance officer, has been charged with stealing trade secrets by China's main rival, the US. So, what can the law do if competing countries and their companies become even closer? Dr Russell Buchan from the University of Sheffield explained how hard it is to prove a country is hiding behind a company:

BuchanA state can be responsible under international law for the acts of non-state actors, such as companies, where the act of that non-state actor can be attributed to the state. Now, attribution is a very particular technical concept of international law, but in order for attribution be established, certain factors need to be present: for example, the state has to instruct or direct the acts of the non-state actor.

The state will also have to support the acts of the non-state actors: for example, through training, through the provision of finances, or other forms of technical support.

TimTo prove countries are using companies, states have to be shown to be supporting a company and telling them what to do. Why would a country hide behind a company?