A new chapter in the US war against Huawei
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The trade war between China and the United States has been hard for the technological giant, which is again in the sights of the US government
It seems that with every day that passes the United States takes new actions against Huawei, the multimillion-dollar Chinese technology company that markets its products in more than 170 countries and that last year became the second manufacturer of cell phones in the world, just behind Samsung.
Leer en español: Un nuevo capítulo en la guerra de Estados Unidos contra Huawei
It has been more than a month since the arrest of the head of financial operations of Huawei, and daughter of the president of the company, Meng Wanzhou, in Canada on charges of violating the economic sanctions of the United States to China. But this episode was only the first of many that now torment the technological giant of Shenzen, China.
Just last week, the US Department of Commerce denied the renewal of the export license of Futurewei Technologies Inc., a Huawei subsidiary company in Silicon Valley dedicated to research and development. This caused that Huawei could not move their own products from the United States to their home.
Earlier in the week, the Polish police arrested a Huawei employee along with an ex-national security official from this country on espionage charges. Although the Polish authorities claimed that the arrest is due to the individual actions of the Chinese citizen, and not to his employer, the distrust of Huawei among the Western powers naturally shot up because of the event.
Read also: Goodbye to the truce between China and the United States?
This saga of events forced the president of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, to break the silence and appear before the media to make statements about it. Ren is known for being elusive and rarely showing himself in public, which made his appearance in front of a selected panel of international journalists special. Since 2015 he has not spoken with media from other countries.
During his speech, he assured that his company does not participate in the Chinese government's espionage schemes. "I love my country and supported the Communist Party. But I would never do anything to hurt the world (…) I do not see a close relationship between my personal political beliefs and Huawei's business", said the businessman, according to The Straits Times.
The solar front of Huawei, new source of suspicion
Just yesterday several members of the US Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, spoke out against Huawei, specifically against its solar technology. According to them, the solar energy products manufactured by Huawei pose a risk to the energy infrastructure of the United States, because they could be hacked to slow them down or stop them.
The Democratic representative for California Jerry McNerney said: "If we continue using equipment manufactured by unworthy suppliers we are sabotaging ourselves. Our intelligence agencies have warned American companies that in Huawei should not be trusted, and we must take their warning seriously", according to The Financial Times,
Criminal investigation advances
A criminal investigation, reported for the first time by the Wall Street Journal, is apparently ongoing against Huawei on suspicion of corporate espionage and the "theft of business secrets."
The accusations arise, apparently, from a lawsuit by the telecommunications company T-Mobile, filed in 2014, where they claimed that Huawei stole key technology for the development of a robot developed by T-Mobile to test mobile phones.
LatinAmerican Post | Pedro Bernal
Translated from "Un nuevo capítulo en la guerra de Estados Unidos contra Huawei"
