Huawei claims U.S. threatened employees and attacked its network

Huawei claims the U.S. government is "using every tool at its disposal" to disrupt the Chinese telecommunications company's business operations, including harassing its employees and using cyberattacks against its computer systems. 

Huawei made the claims in a statement posted Tuesday to its website, although it didn't provide specific evidence to back up the allegations. The claims come amid a battle with the U.S. government, which alleges Huawei works with the Chinese government to steal intellectual property from U.S. companies and that it has illegally done business with Iran. Huawei, a flagship technology company in China, has also become a key bargaining chip in what is a deepening trade war with the U.S.

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The company alleges the U.S. government is relying on "judicial and administrative powers, as well as a host of other unscrupulous means" to disrupt its operations. These include claims that the U.S. has instructed law enforcement to "to threaten, menace, coerce, entice, and incite both current and former Huawei employees to turn against the company and work for them."

Huawei also alleges the U.S. has used cyberattacks to infiltrate its internal and external networks. 

Huawei is the world's second-largest maker of smartphones, behind only Samsung and routinely outselling Apple. But Americans can't easily buy its devices because the U.S. House of Representatives and the FBI are concerned that Huawei is a threat to national security.

In the statement, Huawei also denied stealing technology from Portuguese inventor Rui Pedro Oliveira, who earlier this year claimed the Chinese firm had ripped off his design for a 360-degree camera. Huawei said it began selling its own 360-degree camera in 2017, "independently designed and developed by Huawei's employees having no access to Mr. Oliveira's information."

In:
• Cyberattack
• China