Inside Huawei's lobbying campaign in Greece
Firm has been trying to open new markets
In November 2020, executives at Huawei, the Chinese telecom equipment-maker, exchanged messages about holding a meeting with a “friend” and an “adviser” in Greece.
The contacts, identified as Greek government advisers, were set to provide Huawei with something valuable: a document outlining government contracts and “first priority projects” that the company might want to work on in the country. Huawei managers discussed giving the advisers a Huawei Mate XS smartphone, the company's GT 2 smartwatch and wine, according to internal text messages and other documents reviewed by The New York Times.
The plans are “strictly confidential among us,” a Huawei manager wrote in a group chat named after Greece's digital ministry.
The exchange was part of more than 120 messages and summaries of internal Huawei communications provided to the Times by a person working for a European government that investigated the company. The materials, which identified the contacts as government officials, offer a rare look at how Huawei tried to cultivate relationships with high-ranking figures in Greece, a small but important country for the company, and pushed the limits of Greek rules that restrict gifts to civil servants and government ministers.
In the communications, Huawei employees discussed providing gadgets to a senior Greek government minister and his son, giving devices to police and immigration officials and organizing transportation for Greek regulators during an industry conference in the United Arab Emirates in 2021. The messages did not say whether the gifts were ultimately delivered or if deals for the priority projects were signed.
Huawei, which sits in the middle of a technological cold war between the United States and China, has been under a cloud for more than five years over fears that Beijing can use its technology for spying or sabotage. The company has denied the accusations.
The U.S. government has restricted the use of Huawei equipment in the country and cut the company off from access to certain U.S. technology. U.S. officials have also aggressively lobbied allies to ban Huawei's gear in Europe, the company's largest market outside China.
Greece is a prime example of the mixed success of the U.S.' lobbying campaign. It has not prohibited Huawei's products outright, and the company has battled to keep its hard-won hold in the country.
“Huawei views the U.S. actions as an existential threat,” said Emily Kilcrease, a former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative who studies the U.S.-Chinese economic relationship at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank.
The Times corroborated the internal communications, which were sent from 2020 to 2021, at the
height of the U.S.' efforts to ban Huawei technology, by matching names, phone numbers and other information in the messages. The Times agreed not to disclose the government that conducted the investigation.
“Huawei conducts business ethically and with integrity, and complies with all applicable laws and regulations in every country and region in which we operate,” the company said in a statement.
Entrenched in Europe
Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's founder, has such an affinity for Europe that the company's campus in Dongguan, China, includes replicas of buildings in Paris and Heidelberg, Germany. The company has operated in Europe for over 20 years, selling switches, antennas and other equipment for wireless networks, as well as consumer devices like smartphones and tablets.
European telecom providers, including Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom, have bought Huawei's gear, which has tended to be cheaper than products from rivals like Ericsson
and Nokia. Roughly 23% of Huawei's $92 billion in revenue last year came from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, up 13% from a year earlier.
Huawei built a robust lobbying operation in Europe, hiring influential political and industry figures, as well as donating to charities, universities and other local initiatives. Those efforts have helped the company's standing in the region, with many European governments hesitating to embrace the U.S. effort to stymie sales and remove Huawei equipment from older cellular networks.
A review of 31 European countries shows that Huawei and other Chinese vendors accounted for more than 50% of equipment related to high-speed 5G networks at the end of 2022, according to Strand Consult, a telecom-focused research firm. Britain and Sweden have severely restricted Huawei from their newest networks, while Germany has indicated it may tighten its rules against the company's gear. Italy and Spain are among those that have continued buying from Huawei, the firm said.
“The story is how Huawei is navigating the European landscape to try to maintain the position they have,” said John Strand, the CEO of Strand Consult. “They are playing all the cards they can play.”
Greece has been a conundrum. It has reliably defended Beijing's interests in the European Union, particularly after the 2008 global financial crisis, when China provided financial aid for projects such as the port of Piraeus, which a Chinese state company now owns. More recently, though, Greece has reoriented itself more toward the West.
Still, Huawei's sales in Greece rose 56% last year to 258 million euros ($273 million), according to Greek regulatory filings. The company provided technology for the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp., the state-owned TV and radio broadcaster, as well as the public health care service and the port of Piraeus.
`Ask for support'
As scrutiny of Huawei increased, the company was on the defensive, according to the messages obtained by the Times.
In 2020, company executives in Greece discussed a letter European Parliament members circulated that called for a ban of Huawei products. Jacky Chen, a senior executive in the region, asked Theo Tamvakidis, a manager in Greece, to speak with Eva Kaili and Maria Spyraki, two Greek members of the European Parliament.
“Ask for support,” Chen said in a message. “Don't make Huawei trouble in EU level if possible.”
Tamvakidis responded, “I think I can still convince her,” referring to Kaili and describing her as a friend he had known for years.
It's unclear if Huawei spoke to the two policymakers. Kaili was arrested last year as part of a corruption scandal, accused of accepting bribes from Qatar. She has denied wrongdoing.
In an interview, Tamvakidis said Huawei was constantly “trying to convince people we are not a threat to society, that we are not a public menace.”
Kaili and Spyraki did not respond to requests for comment.
At other times, Huawei hastened to help Greek government officials with their personal technology, according to the communications.
In July 2021, Tamvakidis rushed to find a replacement device for an unnamed immigration official who had contacted him about a broken screen on a Mate X, a foldable smartphone that retailed for more than 2,000 euros (more than $2,100). Huawei had given it to him as a “present,” according to the messages.
“He uses it only for making photos with his Huawei laptop we gave him,” Tamvakidis said in the messages.
Under Greek law, it is illegal for people in the private sector to offer gifts to government officials in exchange for favors. Government ministers, members of Parliament and civil servants also cannot accept gifts that could be considered linked to their official responsibilities, said Stefanos Loukopoulos, director of Vouliwatch, a government watchdog group in Athens, Greece.