CHINA-CZECH REPUBLIC: CZECH WARNING ABOUT HUAWEI

The National Cyber and Information Security Agency (Národní úřad pro kybernetickou a informační bezpečnost, NÚKIB) of the Czech Republic on December 17, called the use of software and hardware products of Huawei, ZTE, and their subsidiaries a “threat against information security.” According to Czech press reports, the warning was originally meant as a classified document for internal government discussion. The unusual step of going public reportedly resulted from the fact that some of the intended recipients lacked the security clearance to read the report. In addition to the companies’ legal obligation to cooperate with PRC intelligence activities, the text mentions “organizational and personnel links between these companies and the state," and the PRC’s “influence and espionage” activities in the Czech Republic to justify fears that the presence of Huawei or ZTE products in information or communication systems could affect “the security of the Czech Republic and its interests.” It noted that Huawei Chairman Ren Zhengfei (任正非) was enlisted in the PLA between 1974 and 1983, after which he went on to manage Huawei using “Mao Zedong’s military thought”. Sun Yafang (孙亚芳), Ren Zhengfei’s “most trusted deputy” and Huawei’s chairwoman until 2018, studied at the Radio Technology Department of the Chengdu Institute of Radio Engineering (成都电讯工程学院), then still under the joint management of the PLA General Staff Department. (The Institute’s successor, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC, 电子科技大学), remains committed to servicing national defence and takes pride in its military research. Hacker groups linked to UESTC were allegedly behind attacks against Indian targets, including the Offices of the Dalai Lama.) After graduating, Sun Yafang did communications work at the Ministry of State Security, the PRC’s main spy agency, until joining Huawei in 1992. 

It said Huawei has recently partnered with the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, aiming to guarantee the region’s “social stability.” The company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Xinjiang government in 2016. Huawei has partnerships with city-level public security organs throughout the country, including in Ürümqi, as well as with the national Ministry of Public Security. The involvement of companies such as Huawei and Hikvision in Tibet and Xinjiang, the CCP’s “digital Leninism lab,” further clarifies their function as tools of state policy and makes a state-subordinate role abroad even more likely. The Czech warning is particularly significant as it risks setting in motion a domino effect in other Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, an important market for Huawei.






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