Huawei helped North Korea build wireless network and secretly collected Czech data, separate reports say as Western nations consider 5G ban
- Washington Post report on Pyongyang link raises questions about whether Chinese telecoms giant violated US export controls to furnish equipment to North Korea
- Two claims add uncertainty to company’s global footprint as it risks losing contracts to work on nations’ 5G roll-outs
Huawei Technologies is facing two fresh bombshell allegations involving potentially unlawful activities in North Korea and the Czech Republic, casting further doubt on the Chinese telecoms giant’s fate in the US and the European Union.
The two claims, made separately by US and Czech media organisations, added uncertainty to the future global footprint of the company, as Western nations consider banning Huawei, in full or in part, from their 5G wireless networks.
Western countries led by the US have accused the company of posing a national security threat, highlighting the irresistibility of a Chinese law that they said could force Huawei to hand over personal data it collected overseas to the Chinese state – a concern that forms the heart of the latest Czech claim. The accusation of a so-called “back door” has been rejected repeatedly by Huawei and the Chinese government.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported that, based on sources and documents it had obtained from a former Huawei employee, the company had “secretly helped” Pyongyang build and maintain North Korea’s commercial wireless network.
Huawei partnered with Panda International Information Technology, a Chinese state-owned firm, on a number of projects spanning at least eight years, according to The Post’s report.
The revelations raise questions about whether Huawei, which has used American technology in its components, violated US export controls to furnish equipment to North Korea, where the isolated regime has faced extensive international sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme and human rights abuses.
Also on Monday, Agence France-Presse reported, an investigation conducted by Czech public radio found that the Czech unit of Huawei “secretly collected personal data of customers, officials and business partners”.