Persecution of Huawei Is McCarthyism in the High-Tech Field

Federal prosecutors are pursuing a criminal investigation of China’s Huawei Technologies Co. for allegedly stealing trade secrets from U.S. business partners, including technology used by T-Mobile US, Inc., to test smartphones, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

If federal prosecutors are really preparing for such litigation, it shows that Washington is determined to do everything it can to clamp down on Huawei, and that Huawei could be in more trouble in the future.

There has been continuous news about U.S. allies who are rejecting Huawei devices. After the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, Poland arrested Huawei employees on charges of espionage, then the news broke about the U.S. criminal investigation against Huawei. In addition, several U.S. lawmakers from both parties introduced a bill on Jan. 16, requiring American companies to ban chips and other components from Chinese telecommunication companies that violated U.S. sanctions and export control bans, specifically mentioning Huawei and ZTE. All of this paints a panoramic picture showing how U.S. allies are persecuting Huawei and other Chinese telecommunication companies.

Huawei is the largest communications equipment manufacturer and second largest smartphone manufacturer, and it can also produce high quality chips. It is a very comprehensive telecommunications company. Judicial means are being used to pursue political ends through the specific accusations and exaggerating the charges in order to smear the entire company. It is particularly sad when it is aimed at the representative high-tech enterprises of our era.

There are 180,000 employees in Huawei worldwide who participate in various types of global telecommunication construction. Huawei is without a doubt a positive contributor to global telecommunication progress. However, one who intends to beat his dog will easily find his stick. The U.S. persecution of Huawei is setting a bad precedent. The U.S. is a large technological country; it will eventually suffer if it disrupts the order in the high-tech field.

The U.S. suppression of Huawei is full of geopolitical drama. Huawei is a high-tech commercial company focused only on technology markets. The U.S. has damaged the rights of such companies who are willing to avoid politics. By compulsorily tagging Huawei and ZTE as political companies, the U.S. is practicing technological McCarthyism.

When he introduced the bill mentioned above, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton declared, “Huawei is effectively an intelligence-gathering arm of the Chinese Communist Party. … If Chinese telecom companies like Huawei violate our sanctions or export control laws, they should receive nothing less than the death penalty − which this denial order would provide.” To the Chinese, these words sound like they are coming from a crazy person. The spread of these words and the value attached to them in the United States show us how American ideology has been distorted.

Huawei is a global top-level telecommunication company that has emerged from a developing country. The U.S. crackdown on Huawei clearly demonstrates it is narrow-minded strategically. The U.S. is not willing to see the positive significance of Huawei’s growth, and is completely concerned with its own interests. The U.S. is a global leader, but it is highly selfish, and lacks the deportment it is supposed to have.

The reality is so serious that the United States is becoming manic over China’s progress, and China has to endure such adversity to continue development. It is noteworthy and impressive that Huawei is not angry, but is remaining cool and responding rationally to the suspicions and persecution.

The difficulty China faces in growing peacefully is creating difficulty for Chinese enterprises to become bigger and stronger, and enterprise is the core part of national competitiveness. This difficulty is constantly confirmed by the experience of Huawei, ZTE and other businesses. We need to fully understand what the U.S. attack means this time, an attack that is more powerful than any previous attack on Chinese enterprise.

Many Chinese people have confidence in Huawei even though it is at the center of the storm. They believe that its will will not be crushed, and that its technical capability will provide it with ample ability to face the challenges. Huawei will be able to prove its innocence through ongoing collaboration with customers, and will be able to show how wrong it is to refuse using Huawei devices for security reasons.

At the same time, we hope that the Chinese government will do more to protect its own enterprises from political discrimination. Those countries and companies that take part in suppressing Chinese enterprises for improper reasons should pay the price.