Huawei is the doorway to China’s police state. There are reasons to keep an eye on Huawei, beyond allegations of violating sanctions against Iran, writes Dan Blumenthal:
The stakes are high, as the company is positioned to be the dominant player in 5G mobile networks. If Huawei wins this competition against US companies, much of the world’s data will pass through the mobile networks of a CCP-backed company that does business with the world’s most troubling regimes. Huawei is also the critical player in CCP General-Secretary Xi Jinping’s bid to establish a high-tech police state and to leapfrog the United States in critical technologies that will enable a host of military capabilities.
The CCP is already collecting enough data from Chinese citizens who use mobile networks, search engines, and online purchasing systems to establish a “Social Credit System.” To say that this system is Orwellian is an understatement. Even George Orwell could not have imagined the new technology of totalitarianism.
The Chinese government plan is to have a database on Chinese citizens’ consumer preferences, personal activities, and habits to give each one a “score” based on loyalty to the party and other behaviors deemed by party leaders to make for good citizens. This score will determine if Chinese citizens are accepted to colleges, can get good jobs, buy a house, and so much more. It is nothing less than an attempt to perfect the world’s first ever high-tech police state. […]
If [Huawei] wins the global race to become the dominant player in mobile technology, then the rest of the world could lose control over the use and integrity of data to the CCP colossus. Regardless of Huawei’s protestations that it is a private company, Chinese laws require companies doing business in China to share data that the party deems necessary for national security. And, notwithstanding the passage of strict data laws in places like Europe, there will no way to guarantee the integrity and use of data if it flows through a CCP-made 5G system.
[Dan Blumenthal, “Huawei Is the Doorway to China’s Police State,” American Enterprise Institute, December 12]
