Chinese officials have begun applying economic pressure to countries debating a partnership with their flagship telecommunications company amid American allegations that the advanced technology poses an espionage threat.
“Before, it was kind of Huawei on their own. Now, the government is getting involved,” the Hudson Institute’s Rob Spalding, a retired Air Force general, told the Washington Examiner. “China realizes, OK. This campaign has been effective. Now, we’re going to have to put pressure on these countries to see if we can claw them back.”
American officials have targeted Huawei with a global public-relations campaign, warning allies and partners that the tech giant is a Trojan horse for Beijing’s spy services. Those suspicions have been echoed by influential European officials, including the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service — spurring Chinese authorities to raise the specter of retaliation against countries that blockade the company.
“It is important to the Chinese government that Chinese companies in Germany are treated the same as others, without discrimination,” Wu Ken, the Chinese ambassador to Germany, said Saturday. “If the German government made a decision that led to the exclusion of Huawei from the German market, it will have consequences — the Chinese government will not stand idly by.”
Wu interjected that warning into Berlin’s debate over Huawei as lawmakers within outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government have revolted against her apparent support for the Beijing-backed company’s investments. Wu’s comments came following reports that another Chinese official in negotiations with the Faroe Islands “conditioned access to the huge Chinese market on the granting to Huawei of a 5G contract in Europe.”
Chinese authorities defended the dialogue. “China and the Faroe Islands of Denmark enjoy good cooperative relations,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said last week. “When the Chinese ambassador to Denmark met with officials from the Faroe Islands, he was performing his duties, talking about friendship and cooperation and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises. The media reports you mentioned are wrong and ill-intentioned.”
Huawei is a pioneer of 5G, the next generation of wireless technology, which makes it an attractive partner for companies that need ultra-high-speed internet access — but also a potential danger in light of U.S. assessments that Huawei systems are riddled with “back doors” for Chinese spy agencies to exploit.
“There is typically somebody nearby who is a member of the central government who is keeping an eye on things, either with an office or otherwise,” Malcolm McNeil, an international trade lawyer, told the Washington Examiner. “And if the needs of the Chinese government require intelligence or other information from the company, I’d see them as hard-pressed to deny the requests for that information.”
Huawei maintains that it is not an espionage threat and has even offered to sign formal promises not to spy on behalf of the government. Those pledges are hollow, McNeil said, in light of the reality of working in an authoritarian state that can “simply replace” recalcitrant Huawei leaders with executives who comply with the Communist Party’s demands.
“And there’s very little remedy at that point,” McNeil told the Washington Examiner. “Huawei may be big, but if people are replaced, where do they go to get redress? And the answer is: nowhere.”
Spalding views China’s attempts to protect Huawei as a sign of weakness that bolsters the Western case against the company.
“I think they’ve lost,” he said. “If you’re an ally or a partner of the U.S., a military ally, you’re not building Huawei … I think it’s going to be a failed effort.”
