Abstract:
In 2018 Huawei and other Chinese telecommunication companies were again prohibited from tendering in key telecommunications contracts in a range of western nations due to alleged "national security" threats. Huawei, the privately owned company established in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, is considered too "close" to the Chinese government and thus could be operating as a "potential spy". This paper explores the rise of Huawei and the causes and reasons for Chinese companies like Huawei to find themselves prohibited from providing telecommunication equipment to some western nations. This discourse will also involve a narrative on the rise of China as a global power alongside the ongoing legacy of the Cold War and "strategic mistrust" of China and Chinese firms in western economies. Given the latest move of Huawei to sue the US government for infringement of market access, the Huawei case also raises the question of whether there are implications for free trade and whether the alleged security concerns are but an ideological way of circumventing market access all encompassed in a potential trade war between the US and China.