Huawei asks people make their own decisions

In an open letter to US media outlets, Huawei has said it will open-up its doors for any journalist who decides they want to make up their own mind instead of listening to government propaganda.

Signed by Catherine Chen, Huawei’s board member who is responsible for public and government affairs, the letter invites the US press to visit the firm’s campus’ and speak with employees to get first-hand information. The inference here is relatively simple, you shouldn’t trust the White House, come and find out yourself.

“I hope that you can take what you see and hear back to your readers, viewers, and listeners, and share this message with them, to let them know that our doors are always open,” Chen stated in the letter. “We would like the US public to get to know us better, as we will you.”

And just to hammer home the statement, Huawei has also taken out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal this morning to publicise the letter:

With many US journalists seemingly operating on a different plane to US President Trump, it will be interesting to see how many take up Chen’s offer. Whether this has any direct impact on the anti-China rhetoric spreading across the US remains to be seen, as Trump certainly has been effective in spreading the ‘America First’ message.

However, there is also the risk of antagonising members of the press. Huawei is indirectly suggesting these individuals have not exercised their own ability of individual thought in recent months, instead simply relying on the stench which wafts out of the White House press room.

This letter is the latest attempt by Huawei to isolate the White House and its opinions on Chinese intelligence activities. The anti-Huawei rhetoric might not be catching on in Europe just yet, but another letter signed by 11 politicians reveals there might well be more aggressive strikes towards China across the US.

The letter, signed by the likes of Republican Senator of Florida Marco Rubio and Democrat Senator of Virginia Mark Warner, demands Huawei’s exclusion should be extended from the telecommunications segment and into any which manages critical infrastructure, such as electricity. The example which the Senators use is Solar Inverters, a component of electrical grids, for which Huawei is the worlds’ largest manufacturer of.

China has already been frozen out of the telecommunications world, but it seems the excitable politicians have smelt blood and are chasing down the wounded Huawei. The aggression towards the firm might start to get very wide-ranging.