Sino-US relations | 中美关系

A functioning national telecommunications system is a prerequisite for all other development. The reconstructed telecoms network was one of the key factors in stabilizing Iraq. As a consequence Huawei saved US lives.Political noise blocks Huawei's chances in US

Since 2003, the international telecommunications company most responsible for facilitating reconstruction in Iraq has been Huawei. Many Western companies would not send engineers to Iraq for security reasons.

Political noise blocks Huawei's chances in US

This refers to an article in 2001. That was 10 years after the Iraqi telecom system was destroyed for the first time in 1991 in the First Gulf War, and two years before the coalition obliterated the civilian infrastructure in March 2003, leaving the US Army and State Department in control of a country without any civilian communications for their own use or for reconstruction. The evidence for this paragraph is at least seven years out of date.

Huawei is a commercial company reportedly with connections to the PLA. It would be more surprising if it wasn’t. This makes it no different than other technology companies in the US, Asia and Europe that supply their national defense communications systems.

The US senators should also consider that Huawei engineers will remain in Iraq and Afghanistan when the US departs. It might be worthwhile to include Huawei in discussions, and treat them as potential partners, and dare I say, even allies.

By Robert C. FonowPolitical noise blocks Huawei's chances in US

Huawei has 200 engineers and support personnel spreading out around the country with minimal security, helping the Iraqi national telecommu-nications company rebuild its national telecommunications grid.

“Most troubling however, is the firm’s reported relations with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The firm’s founder and current CEO, Ren Zhengfei, was a member of the PLA. We have been informed that Huawei is the preferred provider of telecommunications products and services to the PLA and Chinese embassies.”

The most dramatic attack came last week in a letter from a group of conservative US senators. Here are excerpts from the letter.

Any experienced telecommunications professional will be skeptical of claims that place China near the top of the cyberwar and cybersecurity – or cyberespionage – league tables. I wouldn’t rank the country in the top 10.

This created the supply chains and volume efficiencies in southern China that enabled Huawei to become a global supplier of equipment so quickly.

Had the US military and State Department engaged Huawei earlier, especially in the 2003-05 period, reconstruction would have occurred much faster in Iraq, perhaps limiting some of the conditions that fostered the insurgency.

“Given China’s well documented focus on developing cyber warfare capabilities, Huawei’s ties to the PLA have aroused concern in a number of other nations in which it does business.”

In Iraq it was common to find reserve majors and colonels on active duty who were also executives in US telecom companies, which suggests that AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon employees have direct ties to the US military.

Should I be troubled that AT&T is a major provider of telecommunications services to the Pentagon, and that over many years several AT&T executives, in charge of government relations, were former senior officers in the US military?

The author is the managing director of Revenue Growth International Ltd. He was the US State Department senior consultant to the minister of communications in Iraq from 2006 to 2008.

Lately the political objections have taken a moralistic tone that maligns Huawei with accusations based on inaccurate evidence and hearsay.

“Huawei has a concerning history. The Iraq Survey Group reported that Huawei sold communications technology to Saddam Hussein’s regime in possible violation of UN sanctions and it also supplied the Taliban before its fall. Some reports indicate that this communications technology included fiber optic equipment used in Saddam Hussein’s air defense network, which routinely fired on US military aircraft.”

International safeguards are long established where security is necessary. Huawei should have open access to the US network.

Huawei, one of China’s biggest telecommunication firms, is facing unfair obstacles in gaining access to large network contracts in the US.

“Huawei also has reportedly received substantial financial assistance from the Chinese government. In the past, this government assistance has helped it undercut its competitors and could provide the basis for its bid to supplant Sprint Nexte – taking a critical place in the supply chain of the US military, law enforcement, and private sector.”

If Huawei or any other foreign company becomes critical to the supply chain of the US military, law enforcement and private sector, it’s because there are very few US suppliers left. Perhaps the senators can remember that US politicians, financiers and corporate executives made a conscious economic decision to move US manufacturing to China over the last 20 years.

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