Huawei USA Undeterred by Legal Battles, Cybersecurity Fears

Huawei is ready to play the long game to stay in the 5G race. That’s according to Andy Purdy, chief security officer at Huawei Technologies USA, who claimed the Chinese telecom giant is willing to submit to security checks and wait until Western Europe is ready to do business.

The Chinese tech conglomerate has taken its lumps recently – last month, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Huawei with 10 indictments for IP theft, wire fraud, and obstruction of justice. Japan, Australia, and New Zealand refuse to do business with them, and the U.S. has been cautioning allies against using Huawei equipment.

Italy and Germany won’t exclude Huawei, but UK’s BT Group and France’s Orange want nothing to do with the Shenzhen juggernaut.

Meanwhile, Poland appears to be wavering, while Germany – despite a desire to work with Huawei – could pass tighter regulations over foreign network vendors, and that could end any working relationship.

In a thinly-veiled threat, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned allies that using Huawei tech would make it harder for the U.S. to “partner alongside them”, and while no country likes to be coerced – or lectured on cybersecurity – Huawei appears to present a real danger to the integrity of emerging 5G networks.

And while China’s foreign ministry very explicitly condemned the U.S., Huawei USA chose its words very carefully. “The U.S. government is very persistent, very determined and very forceful in communicating the messages about Huawei,” said Huawei USA’s chief security officer.

That’s probably a good idea – Huawei USA doesn’t want to spurn the entire American people, especially since folks across the political spectrum fear Chinese cyber threats.

Read more here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-huawei-europe-poland/huawei-ready-to-tackle-extra-security-to-stay-in-5g-kit-race-idUSKCN1Q21N3