Poll: 61% say politics fuels anti-Huawei campaign
Politics should not be the motivation for the United States to try to crush Chinese companies including Huawei, as was shown by a poll conducted by CNN, analysts said.
About 61 percent of the respondents said they thought that the US global campaign against Huawei is politically motivated, according to a CNN online poll on Wednesday.
As for the reason for the moves against Huawei, 24 percent of respondents chose “security”, 13 percent “business”, and the remaining 2 percent “something else”, according to the poll.
The poll shows that the public has a clear and accurate understanding of the intent behind the moves, said Li Haidong, a professor of US studies at China Foreign Affairs University.
“Some people in the US fabricated excuses in the Huawei case to deliberately suppress Chinese high-tech companies,” Li said.
Senior US officials have recently kept telling American allies that using Huawei equipment would undermine their national security, and could also affect their partnership with the US.
US President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday that he wants 5G, and even 6G, technology in the US as soon as possible, and he also hopes the US will win through competition, rather than by blocking currently more advanced technologies.
In response to his remarks, Ken Hu, deputy and chairman of Huawei, said on Twitter, “We are ready to help build a real 5G network in the US, through real competition.”
Yuan Zheng, an expert on the US at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Trump’s remarks are positive gestures, but the US needs more actions than words to show sincerity.
He added that China and the US should focus more on cooperation in areas including infrastructure, finance and security.
Li said competition in 5G should be fair and nonpolitical, and decisions on using Huawei should be based on market principles and technological strength.
According to a recent report by the BBC, a British cybersecurity watchdog decided that any risk posed by Huawei in the country’s telecoms projects can be managed.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Tuesday that Huawei has never been excluded from the construction of the country’s 5G network.
Germany is leaning toward letting Huawei participate in building the nation’s high-speed internet infrastructure, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly rejected the US position on Huawei, saying that China hopes all countries will abide by the principle of fair competition and jointly safeguard a fair and nondiscriminatory market environment.