Wednesday saying the company “has never and
will never covertly access telecom networks, nor
do we have the capability to do so.”
The Trump administration has been lobbying for
more than a year to persuade allies to exclude
Huawei equipment from their next-generation
cellular networks, known as 5G.
Britain and the European Union have declined
to impose an outright ban, however. London has
prohibited Huawei from supplying equipment
used in the core of its 5G network but not the
periphery. The EU last month unveiled security
guidelines that, similar to measures already
in place in Britain, are aimed at reducing
cybersecurity risks.
Independent cybersecurity experts say the
intelligence services of global powers including
the United States routinely exploit vulnerabilities
in networking equipment — regardless of the
manufacturer — for espionage purposes.
The United States and other countries require
that so-called “lawful intercept” capabilities be
built into networks, though the equipment
manufacturers are not supposed to have secret
access to them.
Many analysts consider Washington’s intense
anti-Huawei lobbying efforts as much about
seeking global technological dominance as
deterring Chinese cyber-espionage, which is
already rampant and equipment agnostic.
They also note that the NSA has previously
infiltrated Huawei equipment — as well as
network devices of other manufacturers — as
detailed in documents disclosed in 2013 by
former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.