Speed Philippines – July 2019

JULY 2019 73

HOW BIG IS

HUAWEI?

In 2018, Huawei

posted about $108.5

billion in revenue.

For context, that

means Huawei made

about half of Apple’s

revenue in 2017.

Fortune Magazine

ranked Huawei as

the 7th largest tech

company in the world

(by revenue). It has

sold over 200 million

smartphones.

The company is

present in about

170 countries,

with more than

188,000 employees

worldwide.

BUT HUAWEI SELLS

MORE PHONES

THAN APPLE,

RIGHT?

Yep. Huawei has

grown to be the No.2

smartphone supplier

in the world. While

Samsung reigns

supreme, Huawei

comes second, then

Apple.

DOES HUAWEI MAKE

ANYTHING ELSE?

Of course. Aside

from mobile phones,

which the company is

primarily known for,

Huawei also makes

telecommunications

equipment that

phone and internet

companies need.

The U.S.’ primary beef against Huawei is that it claims that the company could help

the Chinese government spy against the American people.”

HUAWEI OR THE HIGHWAY?

A year after that, the U.S. State

Department discouraged its

European allies from using

Huawei in their 5G network

rollouts. In December last year,

Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer

Meng Wanzhou was arrested

in Canada at the request of the

U.S. The Trump administration,

it seemed, really has a hard-

on against the Chinese

tech company.

WHY IS THE U.S. FIRED

UP AGAINST HUAWEI?

Aside from the allegations that

Huawei “intentionally conspired

to steal the intellectual property

of an American company,”

the U.S.’ primary beef against

Huawei is that it claims that

the company could help the

Chinese government spy

against the American people.

The U.S. fears that Huawei

will provide Beijing with

backdoor access to its devices—

a claim that the company

continually denies.

But with two Chinese laws

in mind—the 2017 National

Intelligence Law and the 2014

Counter-Espionage Law— the

U.S. claims that Huawei won’t

have a choice if and when Beijing

asks for its help in ‘intelligence

work.’ Article 7 of the first law

states that “any organization

or citizen shall support, assist,

and cooperate with the state

intelligence work in accordance

with the law,” while the 2014

Counter-Espionage Law says that

“when the state security organ

investigates and understands

the situation of espionage and

collects relevant evidence,

the relevant organizations

and individuals shall provide it

truthfully and may not refuse.”

Experts claim that with these

laws in effect, there is no way

that Huawei can refuse once

Beijing asks for its assistance.

With that in mind, it is important

to remember that things are

rarely in black and white. Various

people have speculated that

Trump’s reasons are probably

more bent on economic rather

than national security reasons.

Huawei is one of the leading

suppliers of 5G equipment,

with various countries eyeing

the company in rolling out

5G network in their own

principalities. The U.S., wanting

to be foremost in this particular

area, needs to employ other

means of convincing nations

not to tap the Chinese company.

And what better way to do this

than to drum up fear against the

admittedly shifty Yellow Peril

of China?

Regardless of the validity of

Trump’s directive, his Executive

Order has immediate and long-

term effects not only for

Huawei, but for the bigger

smartphone industry.