Amid charges of racketeering and plotting to steal trade secrets from U.S. companies, Huawei got the cold shoulder from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday, as she cautioned nations against working with the Chinese telecom giant and requested that other nations work with the U.S. as the globe races to develop 5G networks.
“This is the most insidious form of aggression, to have that line of communication, 5G, dominated by an autocratic government that does not share our values,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told an audience at the Munich Security Conference. “If you want to build a collective conscience of values and respect for human rights and the rest, don’t go near Huawei and instead, let’s internationalize and build something together that will be about freedom of information,” she added.
U.S. officials have bemoaned the idea that Chinese intellectual property theft has cost the economy billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs, as well as creating a national security threat. China meanwhile maintains that it does not participate in intellectual property theft.