The Chinese telecommunications company Huawei announced it was “surprised and disappointed” that European Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip said Europe should worry that Chinese intelligence services have access to information sent through Huawei products.
“We strongly reject any claim that we can put a threat to security,” Huawei says in an official statement. The company points out that no government has asked it to install any backdoors in its devices.
EU Commissioner for Digital Technologies Andrus Ansip said last week that “we must worry” for Chinese telecoms companies like Huawei. He was asked about the company’s status after the Canadian authorities arrested the Chief Finance Director of Huawei.
“They [Huawei] must cooperate with their intelligence services,” Ansip said. He added that some Chinese companies are forced to install the so-called “backdoors” in the smartphones, allowing remote and unauthorised access to consumer data.
“I have always been against these mandatory backdoors as a practice,” he said.
The arrest of Huawei’s senior management official has increased the bets in the growing battle between the US and China for technological supremacy. Meng Wanzhou, who is the daughter of the founder of the company Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Vancouver in connection with a potential violation of sanctions against Iran.
Huawei is one of the world’s largest producers of smartphones and network equipment. The company is at the heart of China’s ambition to reduce its dependence on foreign technologies and become an innovation leader. The country has made hundreds of billions of dollars in its Made in China 2025 plan aimed at becoming a world leader in industries such as robotics, electric cars and computer chips. The introduction of 5G wireless technology, which depends on Huawei, is a top priority.
The United States, meanwhile, has already clarified that they intend to respond to China’s growing technological power in order to preserve the current US dominance.
“The US is trying to do everything it can to stop the expansion of Huawei in the world, simply because the company is the leader of the competitive technology companies in China,” says an editorial article in China Daily’s Official Gazette.
