It wasn’t a good day for Huawei or ZTE, two Chinese telecomms.
According to Jennifer Martinez of The Hill, two senior VPs for both Huawei and ZTE testified before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. There is, of course, considerable concern about Huawei and ZTE’s desires to break into U.S. markets. The perception is that Huawei and ZTE have a close relationship with the Chinese communist government and the PLA. Thus, allowing Huawei and ZTE to do business in the U.S. could potentially open us up to “telecommunications equipment [that] could be used to conduct espionage against American companies and infrastructure.”
Both VPs vigorously denied any impropriety. Huawei’s VP said it would be “immensely foolish for Huawei to risk involvement in . . . economic espionage” and downplayed any Chinese government or PLA connection. The ZTE VP made substantially the same arguments.
But then Rep. Mike Rogers dropped the hammer. Specifically, Rep. Rogers noted that “sources overseas have told the committee that there’s reason to question the safety of the two companies equipment” and Huawei and ZTE refused to give the committee documentation concerning its relationship with Chinese authorities.
It seems that the House Intelligence Committee still has massive concerns. Justifiably so.
Check out the rest of The Hill article here.
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A portion from Rep. Rogers’ opening statement:
Huawei and ZTE provide a wealth of opportunities for Chinese intelligence agencies to insert malicious hardware or software implants into critical telecommunications components and systems. And under Chinese law, ZTE and Huawei would likely be required to cooperate with any request by the Chinese government to use their systems or access for malicious purposes.
A portion from Rep. Ruppersberger’s opening statement:
The fact that both companies, Huawei and ZTE, were created and headquartered in China, a country known to aggressively conducts cyber espionage, raises issues. And add to that… the fear that China, a communist country, could compel these companies to provide it information or worse yet spy on Americans using this equipment.
We are concerned about allegations that products from Huawei and ZTE are being subsidized by the Chinese government, so these companies can offer bargain basement prices to unsuspecting consumers. These consumers may have no idea about the national security implications of their purchase. We are looking at all of these issues in our investigation.
You can find both statements, and the testimony of the witnesses on the House Intel Committee website.
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Along the same lines, Damon Poeter reported for PCMag on how two Republican members of the House “penned a letter criticizing DLA Piper over the U.S. law firm’s representation of . . . ZTE, which has come under fire in the U.S. for its dealings with Iran, alleged close ties with the Chinese military, and other matters.” Damningly, the letter goes on to criticize DLA Piper for “valu[ing] the retainer of one contract over the legitimate cyber-security and supply-chain concerns of the U.S. government . . ..”
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