Post by account_disabled on Feb 20, 2024 0:28:00 GMT -5
The contacts, identified as advisors to the Greek government, were intended to provide Huawei with something valuable: a document outlining government contracts and “first priority projects” the company might want to work on in the country. Huawei officials discussed the possibility of giving advisers a Huawei Mate XS smartphone, the company's GT 2 smartwatch and wine, according to internal text messages and other documents reviewed by The News. The plans are “strictly confidential between us,” a Huawei manager wrote in a group chat named after Greece’s Digital Ministry. The exchange was part of more than 120 messages and summaries of internal Huawei communications provided to The Times by a person working for a European government that investigated the company. The materials, which identified the contacts as government officials, offer a rare look at how Huawei attempted to cultivate relationships with high-ranking figures in Greece, a small but important country for the company, and pushed the limits of Greek rules that restrict gifts to public officials and government ministers.
In the communications, Huawei employees discussed supplying devices to a senior Greek government minister and his son, delivering devices to police and immigration officials, and arranging Job Function Email Database transportation for Greek regulators during a news conference. the industry in the United Arab Emirates in 2021. The messages did not say whether the gifts were finally delivered or whether agreements for priority projects were signed. Huawei, which is in the middle of a technological Cold War between the United States and China, has been under a cloud for more than five years over fears that Beijing could use its technology for espionage or sabotage. The company has denied the allegations. The United States government has restricted the use of Huawei equipment in the country and has prohibited the company from accessing certain American technology. U.S. officials have also aggressively pressured allies to ban Huawei equipment in Europe, the company's largest market outside China.
Outright banned Huawei products and the company has struggled to maintain its hard-earned dominance in the country. “Huawei views the U.S. actions as an existential threat,” said Emily Kilcrease, a former deputy U.S. trade representative who studies the U.S.-China economic relationship at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank. from Washington. The Times corroborated the internal communications, which were sent between 2020 and 2021, at the height of US efforts to ban Huawei technology, by matching names, phone numbers and other information in the messages. The Times agreed not to reveal the government that conducted the investigation. "Huawei conducts business ethically and with integrity, and complies with all applicable laws and regulations in all countries and regions in which we operate," the company said in a statement. Pavlos Marinakis, a spokesman for the Greek government, said Huawei technology had a limited presence in the country's new telecommunications networks.
In the communications, Huawei employees discussed supplying devices to a senior Greek government minister and his son, delivering devices to police and immigration officials, and arranging Job Function Email Database transportation for Greek regulators during a news conference. the industry in the United Arab Emirates in 2021. The messages did not say whether the gifts were finally delivered or whether agreements for priority projects were signed. Huawei, which is in the middle of a technological Cold War between the United States and China, has been under a cloud for more than five years over fears that Beijing could use its technology for espionage or sabotage. The company has denied the allegations. The United States government has restricted the use of Huawei equipment in the country and has prohibited the company from accessing certain American technology. U.S. officials have also aggressively pressured allies to ban Huawei equipment in Europe, the company's largest market outside China.
Outright banned Huawei products and the company has struggled to maintain its hard-earned dominance in the country. “Huawei views the U.S. actions as an existential threat,” said Emily Kilcrease, a former deputy U.S. trade representative who studies the U.S.-China economic relationship at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank. from Washington. The Times corroborated the internal communications, which were sent between 2020 and 2021, at the height of US efforts to ban Huawei technology, by matching names, phone numbers and other information in the messages. The Times agreed not to reveal the government that conducted the investigation. "Huawei conducts business ethically and with integrity, and complies with all applicable laws and regulations in all countries and regions in which we operate," the company said in a statement. Pavlos Marinakis, a spokesman for the Greek government, said Huawei technology had a limited presence in the country's new telecommunications networks.