In recent months, the US, Australia and New Zealand have barred China’s Huawei from supplying parts of their future 5G networks over concerns its technology could be used for spying by Beijing; Canada, Britain and some other western countries are considering doing the same. Now, the Chinese telecoms group is on a charm offensive. Its reclusive founder, Ren Zhengfei, made a rare public appearance to rebuff the concerns. It wined and dined global media in Davos last week. But there are limits to how much the privately owned Huawei can do. International suspicion has as much to do with the nature of China’s system as with the company itself.
近幾個月,美國、澳大利亞和新西蘭因為擔心華為(Huawei)的技術可能被北京方面用于間諜活動,而禁止華為為它們未來的5G網絡供應設備;加拿大、英國和其他一些西方國家也在考慮效仿。現在,這家中國電信設備集團正在展開魅力攻勢。華為不常露面的創始人任正非罕見地出現在公開場合,駁斥了這些擔憂。上周,華為在達沃斯宴請了全球媒體。但作為一家私營企業,華為能做的事情是有限的。國際社會對華為的懷疑不僅與中國的體制有關,在同等程度上也與華為本身有關。