Huawei’s Yearslong Rise Is Littered with Accusations of Theft and Dubious Ethics

Huawei has since grown from a little-known interloper into China’s global tech champion, the world’s biggest maker of telecoms gear, a leader in next-generation 5G networks, and a significant source of friction between the world’s biggest powers. In one case, a relative of Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei who worked at Motorola Inc. is alleged to have brought secret details of the U.S. company’s technology to a meeting in Beijing. Last week, the Trump administration unveiled measures that threaten to cut Huawei off from critical American suppliers and ban it from doing business in the U.S.

Driving the crackdown is the Trump administration’s belief that Huawei, like all Chinese companies, has no choice but to abide by orders from Beijing––and that its standing as the No. 1 global telecoms player makes it a powerful tool for China’s ruling Communist Party, which U.S. officials believe has grown increasingly authoritarian in recent years.

Source: www.wsj.com