Huawei open to supervision by European governments and customers

Huawei's EU vice president says the company is open to any system of supervision by European governments over 5G hardware

Huawei is willing to accept a system of supervision by European governments, customers and partners, a senior representative of the company said on Thursday at its Chinese New Year reception in Brussels, Belgium.

Abraham Liu, Huawei's vice president for the European Region and chief representative to the European Union (EU) institutions, defended Huawei's integrity and safety and advised that it would be better to view cyber-security as a technical rather than ideological issue.

"Recently, Huawei has been under constant attack by some countries and politicians, we are shocked, or sometimes feel amused by those ungrounded and senseless allegations," Liu said, addressing more than 100 guests at the Brussels reception.

He said that Huawei has an excellent record in the area of cyber-security, adding that Huawei's products are launched in markets only after passing rigorous tests and reviews by multiple operators and regulators.

In Europe, Huawei's partners include big telecommunication companies, such as Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Proximus, British Telecom and others. According to Liu, these companies "have publicly endorsed their trust in Huawei".

Huawei currently faces intense scrutiny in several western countries over allegations that its equipment and technology could be used by the Chinese government for surveillance and espionage, which Huawei has repeatedly denied.

The US is currently trying to convince European and other partners around the world not to use Huawei's products for their 5G networks, citing security risks.

"There are no compelling reasons that I can see to do business with the Chinese, so long as they have the structure in place to reach in and manipulate or spy on their customers," Ambassador Gordon Sondland, President Trump's envoy to the European Union, told Bloomberg in an interview on Thursday.

Sondland also warned EU countries that allowing Chinese equipment to be used at the heart of important infrastructure projects could risk US countermeasures.

"Those who are charging ahead blindly and embracing the Chinese technology without regard to these concerns may find themselves in a disadvantage in dealing with us," Sondland said.

He advised EU partners to award 5G contracts to other communications firms - with Nokia and Ericsson the likely beneficiaries of any such shift.

Andrus Ansip, European Commission vice president for digital affairs, told Bloomberg last month that China's National Intelligence Law is a matter of concern for European countries using equipment made by Chinese companies. The law, which was enacted in 2017, mandates Chinese citizens and organisations to assist government intelligence agencies in their investigations.

So far, EU has not passed any law on this issue, and member countries are free to take a decision on imposing any restriction on 5G contracts for national security reasons.

Earlier this week, Ryan Ding, president of Huawei's carrier business group, sent a letter to the British lawmakers, stating that the company plans to invest US$2 billion over the next five years to make its products better prepared for security environment in future. He added that the efforts could take up to five years to produce desired results.

"It is a complicated and involved process, and will take at least three to five years to see tangible results. We hope the UK government can understand this" Ding said.