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| Despite the US warning Huawei continues to deal with developing countries |
A study found that US spy warnings by Huawei did not prevent governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America from employing Chinese tech groups to provide cloud infrastructure and e-government services.
The Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report identified 70 such service transactions in 41 countries between Huawei and state-owned or state-owned companies between 2006 and April of this year.
Cloud infrastructure generally refers to the installation of data centers, and e-government primarily includes automated administrative functions such as licenses, medical care, legal procedures, and other regulatory processes.
According to this study, Huawei's cloud infrastructure and e-government services can process sensitive data related to citizens' health, tax and legal data.
Since Huawei is a provider of state and government owned enterprises, it establishes a strategic position that could provide valuable information and even mandatory influence to the Chinese authorities, the study added.
According to Freedom House, the Democratic watchdog, most of the countries that do such transactions with Huawei are located in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and 77% of them fall into the "not free" category. Or “Partially Free.” The team is funded by the United States government.
The SCRS report states the following: With the increase in transactions announced since 2018, including many announcements in 2020, it is clear that Huawei's warnings of security risks are failing to convince policymakers in developing countries.
Huawei said in a statement: As a provider of infrastructure and cloud services, Huawei does not own or control customer data. All customer data is the property of our clients and is fully controlled by them.
"Network security and user privacy have always been Huawei's top priorities," the company added.
The US accuses Huawei of spying for the Chinese government by using the communications backdoor in its devices.
Washington has also added Huawei and several of its subsidiaries to the list of companies, which has restricted the company's sales of key technologies such as semiconductors.
China denies the allegations are unfounded and accuses the United States of misusing state power to impose sanctions on Huawei.
The Chinese company is the largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment in the world and has had to stop producing smartphones due to delivery bottlenecks.
The CSIS report cited several examples of security breaches related to Huawei's cloud infrastructure and e-government services.
A 65-page report funded by the Australian government found that Huawei's data center for Papua New Guinea had distinct flaws, rendering the facility vulnerable to hacker attacks.
In 2012, Huawei was also awarded a contract to install communications equipment at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa.
African Union officials later accused China of stealing the building's computer system and collecting classified data every night for five years.
A Huawei spokesman said: The company provided equipment to the African Union project but did not collect illegal data.