HUAWEI HQ, SHENZHEN, CHINA: Huawei’s relationship with the Chinese government is no different than its ties with dozens of other countries around the globe, its VP of International Media Affairs asserted.

Joe Kelly, acknowledged the company must comply with lawful data requests mandated by domestic and overseas courts, but reiterated previous statements from Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei that the company has never received secret spying orders from the Chinese government and would rather close operations than compromise its integrity.

“Does Huawei have a relationship with the Chinese government? Yes, we do. Why? Because we employ 130,000 people in China, we have to follow the laws of China…We have similar relations with the governments in 170 countries. Does the Chinese government determine what or how Huawei operates? No, they do not, not anymore than the British government, German government or French government”.

Kelly conceded officials in the UK have raised valid cybersecurity concerns about its systems. However, he added the company is happy to have its kit tested because “we don’t pretend to be perfect” and it is “keen to know where we should improve”.

He also highlighted the company’s $2 billion commitment to fix the issues raised in the UK.

But he hit out at what he said were ever-changing allegations made by the US, which he argued were unspecific and lacked evidence.

“It’s very difficult for Huawei to understand what the real concerns from the US government are because on multiple days there are multiple reasons given for what they’re doing, from cybersecurity to the race to 5G.”

“To us, it’s impossible to know what the true reasons are.”

“At the level and scale we operate, if we were doing bad stuff you would know about it.”

Other concerns
Kelly said only operators can answer questions regarding the security of Chinese interconnection agreements with US companies, but noted China’s laws requires companies operating overseas to comply with local laws.

Separately, Jiang Xishen, chief secretary for Huawei’s board of directors, again refuted claims a pair of US professors made in April that Huawei has ties to the Chinese government through its employee shareholder union.

He insisted the union only has direct dealings with a local union office in Shenzhen rather than with the government-affiliated China Federation of Trade Unions.