Huawei denies telling employees to ‘steal trade secrets’ from rivals

Chinese telecom company Huawei Technologies Co on Sunday denied media reports that it had instructed employees to “steal trade secrets,” saying the reports are “pure rumors.”

“We have noticed some reports headlined ‘Huawei asked employees to steal business secrets,’ which are entirely rumors and not factual,” Huawei said in a statement sent to the Global Times Sunday.

Jesse Hong, a former software architect for Huawei’s subsidiary Futurewei Technologies in Santa Clara, California, alleges that in 2016, Huawei directed two Futurewei employees to sneak into an industry summit to gather confidential information, according to a report released on Tuesday by California-based Mercury News.

The accusation from the former employee is unsubstantiated and “we will actively respond to the lawsuit [filed by Hong] to safeguard the company’s rights and interests,” Huawei said.

The Chinese enterprise said that complying with laws is the cornerstone of Huawei’s legal operations across the globe, according to the statement.

The accusation was caused due to disputes between capital and labor, news site sohu.com reported on Sunday, citing an identified spokesperson with Huawei.

“Following local laws and regulations and international rules is key to Huawei’s operating business in the world. In countries and regions where Huawei does business, every employee should comply with laws, regulations and business ethics, which are clearly listed in the company’s Employee Business Conduct Guidelines,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying in the sohu.com report.