Global tech may come screeching to a halt due to the Huawei ban. US tech companies no longer can ship chips and software to China and have them come back in new equipment. That process is now dead. What does that mean for iPhone production? No one knows yet. Google just announced they are blocking Android updates and Google apps like Gmail from Huawei products outside China. This is serious.
First off, this is not some new crazy thing Trump announced. Rumblings from itelligence and our government have been saying for at least ten years that Huawei is problematic at best, not trustworthy, and highly suspect as they essentially are part of the China government. Huawei has a long list of bribery and corruption charges worldwide.
There is wide bipartisan support for sanctioning and investigating Huawei in Congress .
Those companies are now waking up to a harsh reality. China’s pursuit of the commanding heights of tech, its intermingling of the party-state with the private sector, and blocking of U.S. tech firms at home give American politicians on both sides of the aisle little reason to hit the brakes. Just a day after the Huawei decisions were released, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Intelligence Committee announced a “deep dive” into China’s tech and surveillance industries, with prominent Trump critic Rep. Adam Schiff (D) and his political opposite Republican Rep. Devin Nunes hitting similar hawkish notes on China.
Huawei is controlled by the Chinese government.
But the U.S. government, particularly its intelligence agencies, has been insistent for nearly a decade that Huawei has been in collusion with Beijing’s Communist government on developing its technology, with the goal of giving it an espionage advantage.
The alleged relationship between Huawei and China’s government defies the traditional risk process for two reasons, according to former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, because the equipment is so integral to American infrastructure and because the equipment can be changed through future patches or updates.
Bribery, corruption charges follow Huawei around world.
Security concerns about Huawei and other Chinese telecom equipment providers are mounting after U.S. prosecutors last month charged the company founded by a former People’s Liberation Army officer with violating U.S. sanctions on Iran, purloining trade secrets from T-Mobile and encouraging its employees to steal intellectual property.
The focus on national security concerns about Huawei has eclipsed a little reported aspect of the company’s operations: Huawei’s involvement in corrupt business dealings.