
Huawei Facts: An open letter to the US media - gtt
https://www.huawei.com/facts/open-letter-to-us-media.html
======
rqs
> We build base stations in the harshest environments, like the Arctic Circle,
> the Sahara, rainforests in South America, and even on Mount Everest. In the
> wake of disasters like the tsunami in Indonesia, the nuclear disaster in
> Japan, and the massive earthquake in Chile, our employees were some of the
> first on the ground, working tirelessly to restore communications networks
> and support disaster relief.

Then, after your employees have done all that hard work, you just fire them
and call them "mediocre"[0].

Hehe, this is the very reason of why I as a Chinese IT worker, refuse to pay
my own money for any of their product.

[0] [https://bgr.com/2019/01/21/huawei-layoffs-ceo-mediocre-
emplo...](https://bgr.com/2019/01/21/huawei-layoffs-ceo-mediocre-employees/)

~~~
powerapple
huh? Huawei pays very well, and there is a reason it is paid very well. You
don't get that kind of money for being a baby.

~~~
pertymcpert
Why is that being a "baby"? Shouldn't you expect high standards of behavior?

------
natch
Translation: Journalists, please arrange private visits to our campuses where
we can wine and dine you and offer you compelling incentives to work with us
for mutual benefit. We won't necessarily openly bribe you but we are keeping a
list and you will get a hidden "journalist credit score" which will be
considered in such matters as applying for visas, etc. Your score may also
influence the credit scores of others who associate with you.

~~~
__m
How is that credit score hidden, when they are openly labeled as fake news?

------
sasasassy
In these cases I'm always reminded of an Obama speech he made shortly after
the beginning of the Edward Snowden disclosures, where he guaranteed in
national television that the US did not spy on national citizens.

Imagine that, not being a national citizen, but from an allied country, and
being told point blank that you are a-okay for spying without any kind of
shame.

AFAIK China does not intercept all of my country's communications, which the
US has been doing for decades.

Sigh, it's just a bad choice between sleazy US or dictatorial China. At least
there are some other 5G choices available.

~~~
mschuster91
> Imagine that, not being a national citizen, but from an allied country, and
> being told point blank that you are a-okay for spying without any kind of
> shame.

This was the case from the beginning of modern countries - even back in old
Greece or in 400 BC with the introduction of doves (per
[https://www.focus.de/wissen/mensch/tid-5865/geschichte-
der-s...](https://www.focus.de/wissen/mensch/tid-5865/geschichte-der-
spionage_aid_57738.html)). It was and is always a case of tacit acceptance -
you as a country knew you were spied upon just as you were spying on other
countries, and you relied on this to get your own spies traded back alive.

~~~
flohofwoe
It's a difference though between spying on another country's government
organizations (which is ok) vs. spying on its citizens (which is never ok).

~~~
mschuster91
> vs. spying on its citizens (which is never ok).

Yet everyone does it. The NSA snoops up everyone and their dog, same does
GCHQ, same does the BND, same do the Russians and Chinese for anything they
can get their paws on.

Doesn't even matter if it's own or other countries' citizens - the NSA simply
asks BND or GCHQ to spy on US citizens on their behalf, and vice versa. Laws
meaning to protect citizens from their own secret services are for all
practical measures null and void.

------
dreamcompiler
Huawei was created as a front organization for China's intelligence service.
This has been known for years; long before the Iran deal. We know it and they
deny it. That's how the game has always been played with respect to Huawei.
Other Chinese companies like Lenovo have exhibited tendencies to spy, but
AFAIK only Huawei originated as essentially an arm of the Chinese CIA. That's
what makes Huawei different.

~~~
fspeech
Read "How Huawei tried to sell itself to Motorola for $7.5bn" which was
published by FT four days ago. The deal was advised by JP Morgan and Morgan
Stanley. It fell through at the final stage due to leadership change at
Motorola. I don't see how your unsubstantiated statement could possibly be
reconciled with FT reporting. You should retract your statement unless you
have better evidence than FT.

~~~
seppin
Yeah and Google was almost sold for 1m to yahoo. No one knows what anything is
worth or how much it will grow, no one.

------
beams_of_light
I'm not sure which is more dangerous with regard to Huawei - their utter
disrespect for intellectual property, or their subservience to a totalitarian
government that is in continual digital warfare with the United States.
Platitudes directed at the US are exactly that, and should be ignored.

~~~
torgian
And the States do the same thing. _shrug_

Everyone is spying on eachother and we are not safe from that, despite what is
said. I’m more afraid of the NSA having far reaching powers to spy on their
own citizens than I am of China hacking into the NSA

~~~
outlace
We can argue about which country has the worst spying record, but there's a
fundamental difference between a country where you can be imprisoned for years
for merely sharing a web post that is critical of the government and one where
you can stand in front of the White House with signs calling the president an
idiot racist and nothing bad happens. Genuine rule of law and a truly
independent judiciary make all the difference. I say this as someone who is
quite fond of China and travel there annually.

~~~
crumbshot
The US routinely makes a mockery of the rule of law, just look at all the
people denied legal process, abducted and taken to black sites for torture
during the 'War on Terror'.

The US is not some shining beacon of justice and fairness, it's just as
corrupt and capricious as all the rest.

~~~
dangero
No it’s not just as corrupt as all the rest. I agree there is corruption, but
to equate corruption in all countries is bogus. Nuance is important in this
case.

~~~
robin_reala
To put some data to this discussion, in Transparency International’s 2018
rankings, the US comes in 22nd least corrupt, and China comes in at number 87:
[https://www.transparency.org/cpi2018](https://www.transparency.org/cpi2018)

~~~
crumbshot
Note however that this is a ranking of perceived corruption from a group of
adjudicators, which isn't necessarily the same as actual corruption.

~~~
robin_reala
True, but it’s better than two lay-people having an argument on a message
board :)

------
otterwww
Please believe us, not multiple security researchers and governments, they
know not what they speak. China is good for you, we love you and your money.
Come to us, let us feast on your data. What BGP hijacking...these are not the
routes you are looking for

------
stargrazer
Here is an article [0] which may define the background to some serious
concerns about Huawei. It was almost like Microsoft's purported 'embrace,
extend, extinquish' philosophy.

"Many Canadians believe that Huawei stole the core technologies and business
strategies from Nortel and used that knowledge to drive Nortel out of world
markets and into bankruptcy. "

[0] [https://www.assemblymag.com/blogs/14-assembly-
blog/post/9063...](https://www.assemblymag.com/blogs/14-assembly-
blog/post/90631-did-outsourcing-and-corporate-espionage-kill-nortel)

------
bassman9000
[https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/huawei-threat-to-the-
us...](https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/huawei-threat-to-the-us/)

 _But Huawei is incredibly opaque – at least by Western standards. Ren’s still
there (now about 70 years old) and still has veto power, but rarely makes
public statements. He attributes Huawei’s success to collective leadership.
That leadership? Huawei won’t say._

 _National champions aren’t state-owned businesses, but they typically get
market protection, financial support — sometimes as direct funding, but more
often tax breaks, subsidies, low-interest loans, and government contracts —
and even diplomatic help. That means the Chinese government could have a
significant influence on Huawei, since so many purse-strings lead back to
Beijing. And the company has a reputation for playing fast-and-loose with
intellectual property: in 2003 Cisco accused Huawei of copying its source code
and documentation – all the way down to typos._

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren_Zhengfei#Communist_Party_a...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren_Zhengfei#Communist_Party_and_military_ties)

~~~
dade_
Like Xerox?

[https://books.google.ca/books?id=KIEIX2X-na8C&pg=PA68&lpg=PA...](https://books.google.ca/books?id=KIEIX2X-na8C&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=xerox+russian+espionage&source=bl&ots=2kp_BO-
CWK&sig=ACfU3U3kKOVPt2pfcCV27Vl2KX9IlInNaQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjT6Y-XjeXgAhXo7oMKHaw4CYQQ6AEwB3oECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=xerox%20russian%20espionage&f=false)

~~~
Spooky23
Xerox owes its complete domination of print and document to its status as a US
government protected company. Lol.

~~~
threeseed
Xerox has around 20% market share of managed print and document services.

Not really a complete domination is it. Lol.

~~~
Spooky23
Sorry I missed the edit window for the sarcasm tag.

------
gonvaled
Americans complaining about spying by other governments, even if true, would
be the top of hypochresy.

It is so blatantly clear that the motivations to fight Huawei are mainly
because of losing the technology race, that it is not even funny.

That the US pretends to dictate to free countries what they should buy or
sanction (Iran) is not cool.

That the US complains about state intervention when its whole technology lead
was built on state investment is funny.

That the US complains about technology stealing when it built its industrial
base by stealing European technology is insufferable.

You know what? Just let the world be.

~~~
natch
>You know what? Just let the world be.

So don't comment then, if you want to let the world be.

>because of losing the technology race

It's not that US companies are "losing the technology race." If you read
accounts from actual employees of partners, contractors, and others in the
industry who work with Huawei, what you will read is that apparently Huawei
has set up systems and incentives for copying and stealing technology.

And then to pair up with that, it sounds like they have been extremely
aggressive about patenting everything they can identify as possibly
patentable, which would include, if you think about it, others' technology
innovations and techniques that they have stolen.

So it seems these people, with these ethics, who also happen to be organized
under a unit of the Chinese military, end up getting IP protection on things
that others invented, in areas that are critical to sensitive global
communication standards that will cover transmission of private, commercial,
governmental, and otherwise sensitive data.

~~~
sovok_x
>If you read accounts from actual employees of partners

I'd like to read those! Where can I find the direct cites or even
comprehensive review with them (that didn't mystically pop up on the Net
within the last year period)? Google seem to fail me.

------
subjoriented
The fact of the matter is that the United States considers strong industries
in strategic technology fields in adversary nations a national security
threat. This is why NSA seeks to modify US standards for export across the
world. It's why US lawmakers have worked with US telecommunication firms to
gain access to international communications. It's why the US has gone after
Kaspersky AntiVirus. It's why the US has gone after Huawei, and intelligence
officials have supported debunked stories about (e.g. SuperMicro). It's why
the Trump Administration has stripped the regulations on 5G development (to
speed it up so that American companies and technology can dominate the
standard).

This isn't a uniquely American thing. Russia and China are doing the same
things (heard of the Great Firewall?)

Opening doors to journalists is a good and appropriate step. It won't fix the
underlying issues, though, as they stem from National Security competition -
not wrote press misunderstanding.

------
phishfi
I'm so torn with how to see Huawei. The dealings with Iran seem pretty cut and
dry, and the laws in China are impossible for Huawei to ignore. On the other
hand, their consumer products are very different from the commercial routing
and telecommunication branches. Yet, the high level US government folks are
being forced not to use the consumer products. Why aren't they being
prohibited from using other Chinese consumer electronics, like Lenovo, Xiaomi,
etc?

~~~
clouddrover
> _Why aren 't they being prohibited from using other Chinese consumer
> electronics, like Lenovo, Xiaomi, etc?_

I suppose it depends which "approved devices" list you're using. If I look at
the US Department of Defense's approved products list I see Korean brands like
LG and Samsung but I don't see Lenovo or Xiaomi:

[https://aplits.disa.mil/processAPList.action](https://aplits.disa.mil/processAPList.action)

~~~
herewulf
I've done some consulting for a company fulfilling a defense contract and they
had to switch their entire desktop anti-virus solution because they were using
foreign made software and DISA was not happy about it. The origin of
hardware/software is very much a concern for the US gov't.

------
hguhghuff
This reads as manipulative and cynical propaganda.

------
spamizbad
I'm surprised how few free/open market advocates have come rushing to Huawei's
defense. It seems everyone's caught the protectionism bug these days.

Fact of the matter is they're being singled out not because of the their Iran
dealings (Numerous US corporations have done this in the past and paid only
modest fines), but at the behest of corporate lobbying efforts on the part of
Huawei's competitors whose high margin business models are under assault.

~~~
hnmonkey
You're stating that they're being singled out for just doing business and that
businesses are just afraid of losing money. You seem to be ignoring the trade
secret theft, IP theft, multiple intelligence agencies investigating them and
stating that their hardware shouldn't be used, practically being an arm of the
Chinese military intelligence, and probably more I'm forgetting. Seems like a
very disingenuous argument to be making...

~~~
jake_the_third
> multiple intelligence agencies investigating them and stating that their
> hardware shouldn't be used, practically being an arm of the Chinese military
> intelligence

Has anyone come forward with /any/ hard evidence that implicates huawei spying
on their customers? This is my biggest gripe in this whole mess. The fact that
no evidence has surfaced yet, despite how easily obtainable it would be for
govs, indicates to me that that these accusations are motivated by geopolitics
and have little to do with whether huawei customers are being spied upon or
not.

As for disingenuity, I think that hurtling accusations at people without any
sort of supporting evidence is what's disgustingly disingenuous.

~~~
hnmonkey
Yes, people and organizations have come forward and said they have evidence.
It's a simple google search away. You, similar to the OP, seem to be ignoring
all of the many warnings from many organizations. If you think that
intelligence agencies are going to show you, a random person, or the public
the evidence directly I think you're not really aware of how they work. Why
would they burn assets and methods to prove this when everyone agrees on it?

I would probably agree with you that attaining evidence of this spying would
be somewhat easier for governments than for others. However, the rest of your
assertion that these accusations are only due to geopolitics is pretty out
there given it's almost universal at this point that people think Huawei are
not on the up and up.

Hurtling accusations without any sort of supporting evidence is literally what
you've just done. There's a ton of evidence out there to not use them.

Here are some pieces of evidence for you that literally were on page 1 and 2
of a search:

CIA, NSA, FBI just last year saying the US shouldn't use them:
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2018/11/25/u-s-...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2018/11/25/u-s-
advises-allies-to-shun-huawei-telecom-equipment-citing-potential-
cyberthreats/#667642fb8aa8)

At least the US and Australian Intelligence services have hard evidence of
them spying for the Chinese government: [https://www.axios.com/report-
australian-intelligence-know-hu...](https://www.axios.com/report-australian-
intelligence-know-huawei-1541285886-42f1eb64-98de-422f-9686-4174e41ef37e.html)
[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-huawei-security/former-
ci...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-huawei-security/former-cia-boss-
says-aware-of-evidence-huawei-spying-for-china-idUSBRE96I06I20130719)

------
ngcc_hk
Not sure. Core network to me is always very dangerous. China for their own
security show not use US products and vice visa. For product, they should
prohibit (both sides) not to use the others desktop, laptop and handheld
devices. Apply for Russia, the 3 main hacking communities.

For the case, Huawei is unusual. It seems to have a few case (down to even the
glass cover!) Hence the company ... But more important imagine if IBM ship to
Iran their products via a faked HK company and lie to HSBC about it so money
can be transferred (based on the limited amount we heard), the case is there
but the difference is USA threaten Canada for doing what the treaty is
bounded. Or would USA pool resources to do it in court instead in diploma
channel.

Now this action on country level (as seems in the news also in other European
countries) not using just company resources but diplomatic resources.

Is Huawei a firm represent the country? Is it a department of communist China?

Back to the device part, the government and core network shall be on its own
whatever the countries are. It is just dangerous for Russia/China/USA to use
other hacking country.

------
analognoise
I don't think we should buy anything important from China because of their
abysmal human rights abuses, surveillance state machinations, hacking and IP
theft, down to the way they treat their neighbors (Taiwan, building BS
"islands" to claim fishing territory, etc."

I think we should isolate and contain them as much as possible, free market BS
be damned, we should grow a spine and do without them by working as closely
with the neighbors they've stepped on for years and who are much more open to
ideals we agree with. We should actively work against them and I'm glad we're
finally doing something.

As much as I hate Trump, the one thing he's done I agree with is putting the
screws to China. It's actually a popular stance with both parties, and it
looks like it will continue after he's likely impeached. Good.

~~~
justicezyx
Why do you assume that it was China vs. the world, not China and many others
vs. US and many others?

I hope you take a clearer look at the current geopolitical map and have a more
updated view of the world.

------
throw2016
There is a lot of finger pointing at China and wild claims by people who don't
care about these things. After Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen,
threatening Iran and now with open meddling and orchestrating coups in
Venezuela its utterly absurd to pretend to care about human rights or
democracy.

Apparently you can do the same thing every time and cause catastrophic
devastation, kill millions and put millions of families in disarray and
continue to claim 'innocence'. And some here talk about Tienanmen in 1989 as
if none of the above happened, while colluding with regressive regimes like
Saudi Arabia as we speak to bomb Yemen.

In the same way some care about surveillance, but only in China. The NSA
revelations, secret courts, secret orders, Snowden and Assange being hounded
and not a single person held accountable has nothing to do with surveillance,
rule of law or democracy. Google, Facebook and others making billions spying
on the world and building invasive profiles is not surveillance. US law
enforcement demanding to go through your phones and laptops at airports like
the stasi is not a police state. Credit scores and social credit are somehow
different. This is a culture of smug finger pointing based on dissonance.

This is an orchestrated sabotage of a company perceived to be a threat by some
interests with zero evidence or due process in collusion with a global media
that is apparently not too reliant on evidence or investigation. This will be
lesson for many on capitalism, free trade and the 'natural constraints' of our
global system.

------
CathayRe
I don't think Huawei understands it, or they do but trying not to show. The
West dont have problem with Huawei, the west have problems with CCP. And there
isn't a single International Chinese company that doesn't have some form of
Guanxi with CCP.

~~~
shdh
Actually, Huawei has stolen IP from a number of western organizations. So the
disdain isn't only for the CCP.

