Huawei to Hell: Globally Restricting PRC Tech

 Wrongly or rightly, Huawei is now perceived as an extension of the People's Republic of China. More specifically, the Communist leadership is thought of as directing its commercial activities in pursuit of national objectives. To be sure, this prospect was always the likely one given that its founder is a former People's Liberation Army officer who has not exactly distanced himself from his former employer. In the wake of his daughter, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, being detained in Canada on charges that Huawei violated American sanctions on Iran, many other countries have raised security concerns over using Huawei equipment in sensitive applications.

The Japanese have effectively banned state purchases of Huawei gear without mentioning it directly:

Japan decided on a policy Monday that will effectively exclude Chinese telecommunication equipment giants Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. from public procurement starting in April next year, the government said.

The decision comes amid concerns about security breaches that have already prompted the United States, Japan’s key ally, and some other counties to ban the two companies from supplying infrastructure products.

“It is extremely crucial not to procure equipment that embeds malicious functions including information theft and destruction,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference after cybersecurity officials from relevant government ministries and agencies agreed on the plan.

Nor are the French and Germans taking any chances in also overlooking Huawei equipment:

Huawei faces fresh challenges in Europe after France's Orange said it would not hire the Chinese firm to build its next-generation network and Germany's Deutsche Telekom announced it would review its vendor strategy.

The shift by the national market leaders, both partly state owned, follows Huawei's exclusion on national security grounds by some U.S. allies, led by Australia, from building their fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks.

U.S. officials have briefed allies that Huawei is ultimately at the beck and call of the Chinese state, while warning that its network equipment may contain "back doors" that could open them up to cyber espionage. Huawei says those concerns are unfounded. Tensions have been heightened by the arrest of Huawei's chief financial officer in Canada for possible extradition to the United States.

So the most developed markets of American security allies seem unattainable. Granted, that leaves plenty of other (non-aligned) countries free to buy Huawei gear. However, the examples of these major developed nations may mean others also doubting Huawei's intentions despite (presumably) having fewer trade secrets than these advanced countries.

Who will vouch for the safety of deploying Huawei gear other than these folks? It's probably up to Huawei itself to go beyond claiming its innocence by actually disclosing what's in its gear or at least explaining how it cannot be a backdoor for PRC infiltration. Otherwise, Australia, France, Germany and Japan will not be the last thinking it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to Huawei gear.