The Chinese telecommunications company Huawei has been charged with racketeering and conspiracy to steal trade secrets. The charges come from the US in their continued clampdown of Huawei, who have been in the news frequently of late. In addition to suing Verizon over claimed patent infringement, the company has been accused of making equipment viable for the Chinese government to spy on Americans. They have been on the U.S blacklist for nearly a full year now.
The official indictment, which was officially presented on February the 13th, charged Huawei and its two US subsidiaries with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. An added charge was “conspiracy to steal trade secrets stemming from the China-based company’s alleged long-running practice of using fraud and deception to misappropriate sophisticated technology from U.S. counterparts.” The indictment also stated that the new charges go hand in hand with the “decades-long” efforts by Huawei.
Huawei called the latest chapter of their ongoing war with the US “unfounded and unfair” while claiming the US government is trying to “irrevocably damage Huawei’s reputation.” The latter may just be true, as the US looks to strengthen their case in what’s turning out to be a lengthy legal battle. Huawei first sued the government in early March of last year, stating an unfair blacklisting.
What Next For Huawei, US?
Huawei is one of the biggest technology companies in the world, and it’s looking to get even bigger by cracking into the US market. They have been pioneers in the world of 5G, which is the real nucleus of their battle with the Trump administration, as well as with Verizon. Specifically, concerns have risen that Huawei would have access to devices using their networks through a backdoor system. President Trump has warned that choosing an “untrustworthy 5G vendor will jeopardize our ability to share intelligence and information at the highest level.”
The U.S obviously doesn’t trust the company, and the ongoing push from their end shows a commitment to fight Huawei. While the company’s placement on the blacklist restricts its use of American products, Americans still have ways of using their products. The next course of action for the U.S might be to try and end that, shutting them out of the country entirely.
Given the political standoff the U.S and China are in outside of the tech world, Huawei’s connection to the Chinese government is rightfully concerning to the U.S, especially in matters of security. China has already accused the U.S of hypocrisy on the topic, alleging that they used similar technology to spy on German leaders. The battle between the U.S and Huawei looks to be just a piece in the much larger U.S vs. China puzzle.
