Political noise blocks Huawei's chances in US
- Source: Global Times
- [22:22 September 01 2010]
- Comments
Illustration: Liu Rui
By Robert C. Fonow
Huawei, one of China's biggest telecommunication firms, is facing unfair obstacles in gaining access to large network contracts in the US.
Lately the political objections have taken a moralistic tone that maligns Huawei with accusations based on inaccurate evidence and hearsay.
The most dramatic attack came last week in a letter from a group of conservative US senators. Here are excerpts from the letter.
"Huawei has a concerning history. The Iraq Survey Group reported that Huawei sold communications technology to Saddam Hussein's regime in possible violation of UN sanctions and it also supplied the Taliban before its fall. Some reports indicate that this communications technology included fiber optic equipment used in Saddam Hussein's air defense network, which routinely fired on US military aircraft."
This refers to an article in 2001. That was 10 years after the Iraqi telecom system was destroyed for the first time in 1991 in the First Gulf War, and two years before the coalition obliterated the civilian infrastructure in March 2003, leaving the US Army and State Department in control of a country without any civilian communications for their own use or for reconstruction. The evidence for this paragraph is at least seven years out of date.
Since 2003, the international telecommunications company most responsible for facilitating reconstruction in Iraq has been Huawei. Many Western companies would not send engineers to Iraq for security reasons.
Huawei has 200 engineers and support personnel spreading out around the country with minimal security, helping the Iraqi national telecommu-nications company rebuild its national telecommunications grid.
Had the US military and State Department engaged Huawei earlier, especially in the 2003-05 period, reconstruction would have occurred much faster in Iraq, perhaps limiting some of the conditions that fostered the insurgency.
A functioning national telecommunications system is a prerequisite for all other development. The reconstructed telecoms network was one of the key factors in stabilizing Iraq. As a consequence Huawei saved US lives.
"Most troubling however, is the firm's reported relations with China's People's Liberation Army (PLA). The firm's founder and current CEO, Ren Zhengfei, was a member of the PLA. We have been informed that Huawei is the preferred provider of telecommunications products and services to the PLA and Chinese embassies."
Should I be troubled that AT&T is a major provider of telecommunications services to the Pentagon, and that over many years several AT&T executives, in charge of government relations, were former senior officers in the US military?
In Iraq it was common to find reserve majors and colonels on active duty who were also executives in US telecom companies, which suggests that AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon employees have direct ties to the US military.
"Given China's well documented focus on developing cyber warfare capabilities, Huawei's ties to the PLA have aroused concern in a number of other nations in which it does business."
Any experienced telecommunications professional will be skeptical of claims that place China near the top of the cyberwar and cybersecurity - or cyberespionage - league tables. I wouldn't rank the country in the top 10.
"Huawei also has reportedly received substantial financial assistance from the Chinese government. In the past, this government assistance has helped it undercut its competitors and could provide the basis for its bid to supplant Sprint Nexte - taking a critical place in the supply chain of the US military, law enforcement, and private sector."
