Huawei calls America's bluff about evidence of back doors: "Don’t be shy. Publish it"
Huawei denies accessing intercepted conversations
Suffolk also told reporters today that Huawei doesn’t make the equipment that is used by the wireless operators and law enforcement to intercept communications going through the network. In addition, he also noted that the United States has yet to show any actual evidence to prove the claims it has made. Huawei’s cybersecurity chief is calling the Trump administration’s bluff. “We just say: ‘Don’t hide it, don’t be shy. Publish it, let the world see it,” Suffolk says of the evidence that U.S. officials claim that they have. “I’m not aware of any operator who has said to Huawei: ‘Come and sit in this room and see what’s going on’,” he said. “If I found out that our staff was involved with such things, then we would take appropriate action on that.”
Huawei is the largest provider of networking equipment in the world and analysts say that its technology is one and a half to two years ahead of rivals like Nokia and Ericsson. In addition, the Chinese manufacturer’s strong ties to China’s state-run bank allow it to offer its customers generous financing terms. The U.S. has been trying to come up with ways to prop up a rival that could challenge Huawei in this segment of the wireless industry. It asked domestic networking firms like Oracle and Cisco to take on Huawei, but both refused to spend the time or money. It looked at offering loans to Nokia and Ericsson to help them match Huawei’s generous financing terms and last week Attorney General William Barr floated the idea of having the U.S. take control of those two companies. Vice President Mike Pence shot down the idea.
Huawei’s Suffolk also asked why, if the U.S. allegations about Huawei are true, rivals like Nokia and Ericsson aren’t growing their wireless businesses at 30%-40% a year. Answering his own question, the cybersecurity chief said, “The faith of our customers, and you can see this in the results over the past 30 years, gives an indication of what our customers think of those allegations.” He also called governments and operators “smart” because they support Huawei in the race to complete 5G networks.