US Official Pressures Allies to Reject Huawei Over 5G Spying Fears
A top US diplomat warns allies at Mobile World Congress that Huawei's 5G equipment poses a severe spying risk, while the Chinese tech giant firmly denies the accusations.
A top US State Department official urges allied nations to reject Huawei's 5G infrastructure at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Ambassador Robert Strayer labels the Chinese telecom giant as duplicitous and deceitful, warning that its equipment puts the US and its allies at serious risk of Chinese espionage.
US officials worry that Chinese law forces Huawei to share sensitive citizen data collected through 5G networks with Beijing's security apparatus without any democratic oversight. In response, Huawei's rotating chairman Guo Ping strongly denies these claims, stating clearly that the company does not and will never plant backdoors in its equipment.
Huawei dominates the conversation at this year's trade show as the global telecom industry weighs the security risks of building new super-fast 5G networks. These upcoming fifth-generation wireless networks promise drastically faster speeds and lower latency, which are essential for advancing technologies like self-driving cars and the internet of things.