The past few years have not been exactly a smooth sailing period for Chinese telecommunications equipment companies such as Huawei. The tough times began in 2012 when the U.S. House of Representatives" Intelligence Committee recommended keeping the firm, along with ZTE, out of the U.S. market. Then in August, the U.S. banned all electronic products manufactured by those companies from government use.
As if it wasn"t enough, Washington is reportedly trying to dissuade wireless and internet providers based in its allied countries including Germany, Italy, and Japan from using Huawei-built telecommunications equipment. According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. government briefed its foreign allies on cybersecurity threats allegedly posed by Huawei"s products.
In an effort to bolster its campaign against China-made equipment in those countries, the U.S. is also reportedly expanding its financial assistance for telecommunications development efforts in territories that agree to drop the telecom products from that country. In August, Australia banned Huawei and ZTE from providing 5G technology there due to national security concerns as well.
The government is worried over potential risks China-built commercial equipment may pose to sensitive communications of American military bases hosted in those countries. Huawei maintains that its technology has never been used to spy on other nations.
That said, the widespread use of Huawei"s products among many U.S. allied nations is seen as a major roadblock to the U.S. government"s efforts to shut the company out of overseas markets.
Source: The Wall Street Journal