Ever since I realized that Huawei doesn’t just make cheap phones, I’ve found them to be a fascinating company. They certainly have PR and political problems, but they’re one of the only Chinese tech companies that’s competitive globally. And what they’ve been doing with telecoms equipment, they’re now looking to do with smartphones.
Well that didn't take long. It was in our 6 am post today that we said Huawei and/or ZTE would quickly become election fodder, and now we know how quick. The first blow comes via the Obama campaign, accusing Mitt Romney, then CEO of Bain Capital, of "putting profits from China ahead of security for America."
Fear-mongering or justified skepticism? How do we begin to parse the US House Intelligence Committee report, released Monday after 11 months in the works, that claims China's two biggest telecommunications makers "pose a security threat to the United States," and that the US "should view with suspicion the continued penetration of the U.S. telecommunications market by Chinese telecommunications companies"? As the Associated Press bluntly tells it: