As the trade war between US and China rages on, the former is trying very hard to find allies who are sympathetic to its cause. Unfortunately for them, Malaysia won’t be one of them, especially since our local telcos are continuing to support the Chinese brand and its telecommunication products.
According to a report by Channel News Asia, there were a couple of reasons as to why Malaysia telcos were unwavering with its support to Huawei. The first reason is cost; the telcos say that Huawei’s – and to a certain extent, ZTE – telecommunications equipment is more affordable over the majority of options offered outside.
There’s also the race to see which telco gets their 5G equipment up and ready for deployment the quickest. Thanks to the affordability of the equipment, as well as the time invested in it, pulling out its support for Huawei will clearly be a waste of their time.
Malaysia also isn’t as concerned about the espionage allegations that the US puts forward about Huawei. As Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad said in regards to the allegations, Malaysia is an “open book”.
Back in May, the US’ Trump administration signed an executive order against China, banning US companies from using certain types of telecommunications equipment. While the ban is aimed at China, it’s apparent that it is aimed at Huawei.
One reason behind these accusations is the company’s CEO, Ren Zhengfei. Zhengfei is said to have very close ties to both the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army. It’s due to these ties that the US has accused Huawei of spying on behalf of the two Chinese bodies.
As it stands, the ban has already prevented Huawei from receiving supplies from Intel, Qualcomm, and Android support from Google. Further, Huawei has expressed willingness to sign a “no-spy” deal with the US, if that’s what it would take to keep its business going.
(Source: Channel News Asia)
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