Huawei espionage

The list of countries with espionage fears about China’s Huawei is growing — fast
By Adam Taylor

Huawei Technologies has been one of the most successful Chinese conglomerates of the modern era. The telecoms company recently surpassed Apple as the world’s second-biggest supplier of cellphones globally. 

As a key part of Beijing’s “digital Silk Road” initiative, it claims that its services are used in more than 170 countries.
But the company is attracting growing scrutiny internationally. 

A number of governments are concerned that the company still has ties with the Chinese security services — prompting a number of those governments to put the company under scrutiny. 

There are particular concerns about the use of Huawei’s technology in upgrades to fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks.
The company’s background is another factor that worries some governments. 

Huawei was founded by Ren Zhengfei, a former engineer in China’s People’s Liberation Army, in the 1980s. 

It has become notorious for its military-like corporate culture.
Though the privately owned company denies there is any threat of spying, pressure on Huawei has increased recently as the United States has pushed its allies to think twice about using Huawei’s technology. 

Here is how some countries are dealing with the national security threat from Huawei.

The United States
U.S. skepticism of Huawei goes back to at least 2012, when the House Intelligence Committee issued a report that said that the company’s equipment could be used to spy on Americans and should be deemed a national security threat.
After that, most U.S. firms avoided the use of its technology, though the company does have a small American presence. 

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is facing bipartisan pressure from lawmakers to look into Huawei’s research partnerships with U.S. entities, for example.
In addition to scrutiny of its role in espionage, the company has also been accused of violating U.S. sanctions laws: In 2016 it was subpoenaed by the Commerce and Treasury departments over violations of sanctions on the export or re-export of U.S. technology to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
Last month, at the request of the U.S. government, Canadian authorities arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou as she changed flights in Vancouver. 

Meng, daughter of the company’s founder, faces extradition to the United States, where she is expected to face charges on sanctions violations concerning Iran.

Canada
Canada’s arrest of Meng has sparked a diplomatic standoff with Beijing, and soon afterward, a number of Canadian citizens in China were placed under arrest. 

The Canadian government is also facing bipartisan pressure from the United States to block Huawei technology from its 5G network infrastructure.
“These Chinese telecom companies are directly influenced by the Chinese government. 

They are not necessarily direct arms of the government,” Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) told CBC News last week. 

“The government and the Communist Party [have] the ability to influence their capabilities.”
U.S. lawmakers have said they are concerned about Huawei in Canada, as the U.S. telecoms system is intertwined with Canada’s. 

The Canadian government has said speculation that it would ban Huawei and other Chinese tech firms was speculation.

Poland
Polish authorities announced this week that they had detained an employee of Huawei and charged him with spying on behalf of China. 

A Polish citizen who worked for the company’s main business partner in the country was also arrested.
The moves are especially notable as Huawei had a considerable footprint in Poland, which had not limited its partnership with the company in the way some other European nations have. 

Last year, the Polish government said it would collaborate with the company on a 5G cellular network.
Poland’s counterintelligence agency told reporters that it searched Huawei’s Polish offices Tuesday and seized documents and electronics.

Australia
In August, the Australian government announced it was barring Huawei and another Chinese company, ZTE, from providing 5G technology in the country. 

In later comments, a top Australian intelligence official explained that the technology involved in 5G networks was what made Huawei a security threat to the country.
“This is about more than just protecting the confidentiality of our information — it is also about integrity and availability of the data and systems on which we depend. Getting security right for our critical infrastructure is paramount,” Australian Signals Directorate director-general Mike Burgess told the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s national security dinner in October.

New Zealand
Authorities in New Zealand followed Australia’s lead in November and banned the use of Huawei’s 5G equipment in the country. 

A local company named Spark New Zealand announced Nov. 28 that its proposal to use the Chinese technology had been blocked by the director general of the Government Communications Security Bureau, New Zealand’s national security agency.
“The Director-General has informed Spark today that he considers Spark’s proposal to use Huawei 5G equipment in Spark’s planned 5G RAN would, if implemented, raise significant national security risks,” Spark New Zealand said in a statement.

Japan
Though the firms were not named directly, the Japanese government in December effectively banned Huawei and ZTE from official contracts in the country. 

“In order to secure cybersecurity, we are aware that it is extremely important to make sure we would not procure equipment with functions of malicious intention,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a news conference Monday.
Kyodo News later reported that the big three telecom operators in Japan — NTT Docomo, KDDI and SoftBank — also would not use technology from Huawei and ZTE in their networks.

Huawei espionage

China’s Huawei faces new setbacks in Europe’s telecom market
By KELVIN CHAN

In this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018 photo, an information board for employees' shuttle bus is on display near the Huawei office building at its research and development centre in Dongguan in south China's Guangdong province. The U.S. dispute with China over a ban on tech giant Huawei is spilling over to Europe, the company’s biggest foreign market, where some countries are also starting to shun its network systems over data security concerns. Some European governments and telecom companies are following the U.S.’s lead in questioning whether using Huawei for vital infrastructure for mobile networks could leave them exposed to snooping by the Chinese government. 

LONDON — The U.S. dispute with China over a ban on tech giant Huawei is spilling over to Europe, the company’s biggest foreign market, where some countries are also starting to shun its network systems over data security concerns.
Some European governments and telecom companies are following the U.S.’s lead in questioning whether using Huawei for vital infrastructure for mobile networks could leave them exposed to snooping by the Chinese government.
Bans in Europe could significantly increase the financial pressures on Huawei. 

They would also cost Europe tens of billions of dollars as the region looks to build up “5G” networks, which are meant to support a vast expansion in internet-connected things, from self-driving cars to factory robots and remote surgery.
“Europe is still divided over Huawei, but the trendline is moving in a fairly clear direction” as the U.S. exerts pressure on allies to block it, said Thorsten Benner, director of the Berlin-based Global Public Policy Institute think tank.
Geopolitical tensions over Huawei intensified after its chief financial officer, who is also the daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested Dec. 1 in Canada in connection with U.S. accusations that the company violated restrictions on sales of American technology to Iran.
Huawei has been blocked in the U.S. since 2012, when a House Intelligence Committee report found it was a security risk and recommended that the government and private companies stop buying its network equipment.
Germany’s Deutsche Telekom said last week it “takes the global discussion about the security of network elements from Chinese manufacturers very seriously.” 

The company said it uses multiple companies to build its network, including Ericsson, Nokia and Cisco.
“Nevertheless, we are currently reevaluating our procurement strategy,” the company said.
The statement is significant because until recently it had been one of Huawei’s “biggest cheerleaders” based on its cheap and reliable equipment, said Benner.
It came shortly after Alex Younger, the director of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6, said in a speech that Britain needs “to decide the extent to which we are going to be comfortable with Chinese ownership of these technologies,” according to local media reports.
At about the same time, mobile provider British Telecom said it was removing Huawei equipment from key parts of its current 3G and 4G networks as part of an internal policy not to use it for core infrastructure, which will also apply to 5G networks.
The British government-run center that tests the company’s equipment and software this summer identified “shortcomings in Huawei’s engineering processes that have exposed new risks” in U.K. networks. 

Norway’s telecom ministry said it was considering clarifying requirements from network operators, without being more specific.
Belgium’s cybersecurity agency is reportedly considering a ban on Huawei. 

And the Czech Republic’s prime minister ordered his government office on Tuesday to stop using Huawei mobile phones, after the national cybersecurity agency warned that products by Huawei and another Chinese telecom company, ZTE, pose “a security threat.”
The European Union’s head of technology policies, Andrus Ansip, said “we have to be worried” about possible security risks from Huawei when asked about the company’s role in European 5G and driverless car projects.
Huawei, founded in 1987 by a former military engineer, denies accusations it’s controlled by China’s ruling Communist Party or designs equipment to facilitate eavesdropping. 

The Europe, Middle East and Africa market is Huawei’s second biggest after China, accounting for 27 percent of its nearly $90 billion revenue last year. 

Executives said the company has now signed contracts with 25 telecom carriers for commercial or test use of 5G and shipped more than 10,000 5G base stations.
The rollout of 5G networks is expected to take a decade. 

As technologies advance, the amount of data flowing between machines is set to surge, prompting governments to increasingly view telecom networks as strategic national assets.
Not everyone is endorsing quick action to ban Huawei.
The CEO of the French telecom company Orange, Stephane Richard, said last week his company wouldn’t use Huawei gear for sensitive parts of its network because of “messages of prudence” from French authorities. 

Excluding Huawei won’t be easy, analysts said.
“It’s not like there’s some cheaper alternative,” said Paul Triolo, head of geotechnology practice at the Eurasia Group. 

“Ericsson and Nokia don’t produce the whole spectrum” of equipment, referring to the Scandinavian companies that are the only non-Chinese competitors.
Huawei has thrived in major European markets like Germany and Britain because their telecom industries wanted to ensure there were multiple equipment suppliers to avoid relying on one.
“So if you’re asking them to remove a major vendor from their markets, it’s going to be difficult,” Triolo said.
German companies won’t be happy if they can’t use Huawei because their costs will go up and it will delay rolling out 5G networks, which will initially rely on existing 4G infrastructure for which Huawei is already a major supplier, said Benner.
But German decisions are also likely to influence those by smaller countries that are part of the German industrial manufacturing supply chain, such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
“They’ll all wake up if Germany takes a decision and worries about the security of its infrastructure,” said Benner.

Poland calls for joint EU-Nato stance on Huawei after spying arrest

Country’s foreign minister says both entities need to decide whether to exclude telecom giant from their markets 

Reuters

Chinese spy nest: Huawei’s offices in Warsaw. 

Huawei spy Wang Weijing

Poland’s internal affairs minister has called for the EU and Nato to take a “joint stance” on Huawei after an employee of the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker was arrested on spying charges.
Huawei on Saturday sacked the Chinese employee, Wang Weijing, following his arrest and that of a former Polish security official on Friday. 

The two men could be held for three months.
Poland’s internal affairs minister, Joachim Brudziński, called for the European Union and Nato to work on a joint position over whether to exclude Huawei from their markets.
Brudziński said Poland wanted to continue cooperating with China but that a discussion was needed on whether to exclude Huawei from some markets.
“There are concerns about Huawei within Nato as well. It would make most sense to have a joint stance, among EU member states and Nato members,” he told broadcaster RMF FM.
“We want relations with China that are good, intensive and attractive for both sides,” he added.
Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecommunications equipment, is facing intense scrutiny in the west over its relationship with China’s government.
In August, the US president, Donald Trump, signed a bill that barred the US government from using Huawei equipment and is considering an executive order that would also ban US companies from doing so.
In December, Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada at the request of the US, which wants her extradited to face charges that she misled banks about the company’s business dealings in Iran.
Seeking to distance itself from the Polish incident, Huawei on Saturday said in a statement it had sacked Wang, whose “alleged actions have no relation to the company”.
A deputy digital affairs minister in Poland said, however, that Warsaw was analysing any involvement by Huawei in building the country’s 5G telecommunications infrastructure, Money.pl portal reported.
A LinkedIn profile for Wang showed he has worked for Huawei’s Polish division since 2011 and previously served as attache to the Chinese general consul in Gdańsk from 2006-2011. 

Wang did not respond to a request for comment via the social media site.