Huawei saga calls for attention, not alarmist probe, boycott
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2019 18:24:13 +0000
IN a move unprecedented in its scope, the US Justice Department this week filed more than a dozen criminal charges against Chinese tech giant Huawei and its chief financial officer (CFO), rattling financial markets and deepening suspicions about the business of Chinese firms in other countries.
The charges filed by the US allege three violations. First, Huawei itself is charged with stealing technology from a US-based lab of telecommunications company T-Mobile. Second, two affiliate companies of Huawei are accused of evading US and UN sanctions against Iran.
Third, Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Canada in December at the behest of US authorities, is charged with covering up the sanctioned business transactions, primarily by denying the relationship between Huawei and its affiliates to US investigators.
Predictably, some voices have raised calls for investigations and even preventive boycotts of Huawei and other Chinese companies here in the Philippines, where Chinese telecommunications technology has practically become a part of everyday life. Fears have only been heightened by the actions of some other countries such as Australia and New Zealand to do precisely that – ban the use of Chinese technology in new 5G networks being developed.
Congress and the public should be cautious, however, and not give in to “anti-China” hysteria in the wake of the US government’s move.
While the indictments against Huawei, CFO Meng Wanzhou and two affiliate companies are quite serious, they are also quite complicated in technical and legal terms, and have significant political overtones. Drawing any conclusions from them about the relationship of Chinese tech firms here would be rash at this point.
Many kinds of business transactions with the Iranian government or companies in Iran are currently banned by sanctions imposed by the US and UN, which accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons and sponsoring terrorist groups in Syria and other countries.
The charges against Huawei and Meng Wanzhou are also assumed — in spite of official denials from the US government — to be significantly motivated by the ongoing trade war between the US and China. In what could not have been a coincidence, the US Justice Department unsealed the indictments on the same day that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He arrived in Washington for the continuation of trade talks between the two countries. The presumption is that the US may be intending to use the case as leverage to gain trade concessions from China.
If the charges are conclusively proven true, they may have implications for the relationship of the Philippines with Huawei in particular, and Chinese technology firms in general, but that is by no means certain. Unless or until the US cases are decided, it would be irresponsible for the Philippines to act speculatively.
Grandstanding on the news to hold legislative hearings “in aid of legislation” on dimly perceived security threats from Chinese firms, for example, would be ill-advised. That or any similar expression of official suspicion not clearly justified by any facts risks causing political friction with China, and possibly even Iran, two countries with whom the Philippines currently has very good relations.
Despite having some unresolved foreign relations issues of its own, the Philippines has largely managed to “stay above the fray” in geopolitical conflicts, particularly the deepening rivalry between the US and China. Being quietly observant of issues like the Huawei case, and not taking action without clear need to do so, will help keep it that way as long as possible.
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