Chinese firm’s Canadian contracts raise security fears – CBC, May 15
The former head of U.S. counter-espionage says the Harper government is putting North American security at risk by allowing a giant Chinese technology company to participate in major Canadian telecommunications projects.
In an exclusive interview in Washington, Michelle K. Van Cleave told CBC News the involvement of Huawei Technologies in Canadian telecom networks risks turning the information highway into a freeway for Chinese espionage against both the U.S. and Canada.
Huawei has long argued there is no evidence linking the company to the growing tidal wave of international computer hacking and other forms of espionage originating in China.
Nonetheless, the U.S. and Australia have already blocked Huawei from major telecom projects in those countries, and otherwise made it clear they regard China’s largest telecommunications company as a potential security threat.
Van Cleave, who served as top spy-catcher for the Bush administration until 2006, describes Huawei as a potential “stalking horse” for Chinese military and intelligence objectives.
Even Canada’s own intelligence agencies have warned the Harper government of the risks of throwing open the door to Chinese telecom companies.
…“China is a totalitarian government, and Huawei operates at the sufferance of the government, and those relationships are there. Even if Huawei management wished them away, they would still be there.”
…Last year, the Canadian government itself was hit with its worst-ever hacking attack from China, penetrating the highly classified computer systems in at least three federal departments: Finance, Treasury Board and Defence Research.
Documents obtained by CBC show the hackers managed to steal large amounts of classified data before the computer systems could be shut down.
Eighteen months later, those computer systems remain corrupted and unable to connect directly to most of the internet without losing more data to the as-yet-unidentified Chinese spies.
More recently, a former executive of now bankrupt Nortel has blamed Chinese technology theft for hastening the demise of the former Canadian telecom giant.
So, why is the Canadian government greeting Huawei with open arms?
From a business perspective, Huawei is apparently hard to resist.
The upstart WIND Mobile, for instance, used Huawei to build a whole new wireless network in Canada, and has publicly gushed about the Chinese company’s high-quality products, reliable service and lower prices than the competition.
…Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a security expert and former member of Canada’s spy service, says the Harper government is “absolutely” taking a big risk with Huawei, and appears to be ignoring warnings from the U.S., Australia and other allies.
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Huawei is Great company, but so bad he come from China
