The US House Intelligence Committee has been pressuring Huawei to elaborate on the nature of their ties to the Chinese government. Although Huawei has answered these accusations several times, the US Congress persists with the questions citing their worries that Huawei may be carrying counter-intelligence operations for the Chinese. Huawei creates cheaper telecommunications equipment than rivals Ericsson and Cisco. It is also competing against Apple’s iPhone with its Android-based handsets. The company however does not have a huge presence in the US market due to pressure from the American government.
Earlier this month, members of the Congressional House committee met Huawei officials in Hong Kong to press for details regarding their relations with the Chinese government. The Huawei executives were asked whether the Chinese government owns or funds the companies operations. This comes after a lot of cyber cuts have been linked to the Chinese. The company’s executives are currently resigned to their situation and according to Chen Lifang, Vice President of the company, they will take any advice they can get.
The Intelligence committee has not cited any specific allegations as to the threat posed by Huawei but its members are expressing concern on the potential that Huawei could enable Chinese espionage. Huawei is currently, the second largest telecommunications equipment producer. It presently owns 50,000 patents and spent 3.8 billion dollars last year on research and development.
via cnet
