In a testimony to the UK parliament, Huawei’s head of cyber security on Monday stated that the firm’s attorneys have assured it that the Chinese government cannot legally force it to conduct foreign intelligence work.
The US has designated Huawei a threat to national security, arguing that national security laws in China can enable Beijing to demand access to Huawei data and systems in order to conduct cyber espionage operations. But according to Huawei, “there are no laws in China that obligate us to work with the Chinese government with anything whatsoever.” The UK has so far resisted an outright boycott on Huawei, despite warnings by the US.
The news comes just as Recorded Future released a report describing Huawei as a massive security threat to US organizations precisely because the enormous amounts of data it stores on individual users, companies, and governments may be compromised by the Chinese government as the result of national security laws that Huawei is subjected to.
