Huawei victim of Washington’s compulsive, obsessive disorder

The war waged by the United States against China’s telecommunications company Huawei has been absurd from the very beginning. Yet the allegation that Huawei is a cybersecurity risk continues to be bandied about by Washington as if it is a fact, despite even its allies pouring cold water on its claims.

What happened at the world’s biggest mobile industry trade fair, which opened in Barcelona on Monday, shows how determined the US is to push its absurdity to the extreme.

The big US government delegation at the show was clearly not there for the purpose of promoting the advancement of the telecom industry worldwide. Instead, it is intent on setting obstacles in its way. The US has seized the opportunity to continue its campaign against Huawei by trying to lean on the attending telecom executives and government officials so they will turn their backs on the Chinese company.

Resorting to the now discredited claims the Chinese company represents a security concern above and beyond any other network provider, 11 US senators urged the US government on Monday to ban solar power inverters or advanced control systems made by Huawei, alleging that they pose a national security threat to US energy infrastructure. Yet, as before, the US has failed to produce any shred of evidence to support its allegations.

Although the aspersions the US is casting on Huawei are intended to harm the Chinese company, they also harm the interests of the US’ international partners, which would otherwise be benefiting from conducting normal cooperation with the company.

As a global telecom giant that leads the world in 5G technology, Huawei could make huge contributions to the industrial development of countries and benefit consumers worldwide with its products. Industry experts have already pointed out countries that yield to the US pressure will be delaying their rollout of 5G by at least two years.

Huawei is clearly under huge pressure from the world’s sole superpower, but it will survive the attacks, since it has established trust with its existing customers. It has already stated its willingness to participate in fact-based risk-assessment reviews, and it has already set up a security risk evaluation center of its own, based in Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom.

It is no secret that Washington’s pummeling of Huawei stems from the US administration’s intention to suppress China’s advancement in science and technology. But there is the possibility that the US administration might finally have caught on to the fact it is trying to flog a dead horse to those seeking a reasonably priced thoroughbred. The US president said last week that he wanted the US to catch up in the 5G race through competition, “not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies”.

Network operators will be crossing their fingers that this heralds a change of approach. Although, by displaying its paranoia about Huawei, Washington has laid bare just how pathologically it fears losing its perch at the top of the tech tree and how little confidence it has that it can make up the lost ground.