Huawei chairman says company willing to sign ‘no-spy’ agreements with world govts

Huawei chairman Liang Hua has stated that his company would be willing to sign “no spy” agreements with governments, while vehemently denying any Chinese laws forcing companies to spy on foreign countries.

Hua said he has not met with any British government officials on this current trip to the UK but claimed his company has long-cooperated with Britain’s National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and established good cybersecurity measures.

The businessman called for industry-wide, technical solutions to improve cybersecurity while calling on world governments to adopt an “evidence-based approach” to cybersecurity risks.

He denied the existence of any Chinese laws which compel companies to gather intelligence on other countries or plant backdoors in equipment installed outside of China, but added that Huawei would be willing to sign “no-spy” agreements with governments around the world, including Britain.

This echoed similar statements made by the company’s vice-president for Western Europe, Tim Watkins, who said that Huawei founder Ran Zhengfei “made it clear that he has never been asked to hand over any customer data or information” adding that “he would refuse and if it was attempted to be enforced he would shut the company down.”

Huawei is currently embroiled in a major scandal in the UK over whether it should be allowed to operate the country’s 5G network technology amid US concerns that it could be exploited by the Chinese government for large-scale spying purposes.

At a meeting in April, the UK’s National Security Council (NSC) agreed in principle to allow Huawei to supply “non core” technology. Gavin Williamson was fired from his role as defence secretary as a result of a leak from said meeting.

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