Tech Tangle
In early June, employees at the Gurgaon office of Huawei Technologies had a good laugh over a joke doing the rounds on the social media. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has practically banned the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker from doing any business in that country on security grounds, was on a state visit to the UK where British mobile operator EE recently launched the country's first 5G services running on Huawei equipment. Trump could be using Huawei, after all.
What is pulling down the $107.4 billion company? The U.S. intelligence agency CIA has reportedly accused Huawei of receiving funding from China's National Security Commission, the People's Liberation Army (China's military) and a third branch of the state intelligence network. In fact, Huawei has been a suspect for more than a decade, and several countries have accused it of working as a spy agency for the Chinese government. This is because of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei's deep connections with the Communist Party of China and his stint as an engineer in the People's Liberation Army.
The company's image took another hit in recent months after it was accused of IP rights theft and violation of major international sanctions. The U.S. government is particularly
