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Huawei said that banning the company from the US market using cybersecurity as an excuse “will do nothing” to strengthen the security of government networks. Photo: AFP

Huawei asks US courts for summary judgment on its move to get federal ban on its gear overturned

  • Huawei calls on US to halt ‘state-sanctioned campaign against company’ as it will not deliver cybersecurity
  • The US government recently took its campaign against Huawei a step further, placing it on a trade blacklist that prevents it from buying American technology

Huawei Technologies, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment supplier, said on Wednesday it has filed a motion asking the United States courts for a summary judgment on its move to get a US ban on Huawei equipment for federal agencies and contractors overturned.

The action comes nearly three months after Huawei filed a lawsuit against the US government, arguing that the federal ban, outlined in section 889 of the 2019 US National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA), is unconstitutional as it singles out a person or a group for punishment without trial.

“They are using every tool they have, including legislative, administrative, and diplomatic channels. They want to put us out of business. This is not normal. Almost never seen in history,” Huawei’s chief legal officer Song Liuping said in a press conference in Shenzhen on Wednesday.

“The fact is, the US government has provided no evidence to show that Huawei is a security threat. There is no gun, no smoke. Only speculation.”

“The judicial system is the last line of defence for justice. Huawei has confidence in the independence and integrity of the US judicial system. We hope that mistakes in the NDAA can be corrected by the court,” Song added.

Huawei has been under rising pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has been trying to discourage US allies from using telecoms equipment from the Shenzhen-based company for next-generation 5G mobile network roll-outs, saying it represents a national security risk.

Super-fast 5G networks are seen as one of the gateways to a future digital economy, powering industrial internet-of-things applications.

Huawei said that banning the company from the US market using cybersecurity as an excuse “will do nothing” to strengthen the security of government networks, only distract attention from the “real challenges”.

Huawei is filing the motion for a summary judgment in order to accelerate the process of halting “illegal action against the company”.

Glen Nager, Huawei’s lead counsel for the US case, said in Wednesday’s press release that Section 889 of the 2019 NDAA “violates the Bill of Attainder, Due Process, and Vesting Clauses of the United States Constitution”.

He said the case was purely “a matter of law” as there are no facts at issue, thereby justifying the motion for a summary judgment to speed up the process.

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Earlier this month, the US government took its campaign against Huawei a step further and placed it on a trade blacklist, known as the Entity List, again over concerns that Huawei’s network gear posed a security risk, saying its gear could be compromised by Chinese intelligence agencies.

Huawei has repeatedly and vehemently denied these accusations.

The trade ban, which restricts the company’s access to critical hardware, software and services from American hi-tech companies, is suffocating Huawei as it relies on a variety of US technologies to keep its businesses running.

Trump has also signed an executive order that restricts US companies from buying telecoms products from “foreign adversaries” that pose a national security threat.

Commenting on Huawei's addition to the US Entity List, Song said: “This sets a dangerous precedent. Today it’s telecoms and Huawei. Tomorrow it could be your industry, your company, your consumers.” He added that the US move could directly impact more than 1,200 suppliers who work with Huawei.

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It has seen major hi-tech suppliers – including Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm and chip technology provider ARM Holdings – move to suspend business ties with Huawei. That has hurt the Chinese firm’s smartphone business overseas, where a number of panic-stricken users have recently put up their new Huawei devices for sale online.

Meanwhile, a number of Huawei customers in Hong Kong queued up at the company's service centre for help on Wednesday, saying that their smartphone had failed to start and froze on system recovery mode after a recent systems update, according to local media reports. Calls to Huawei’s customer service centre by the Post went unanswered after hours.

Huawei shipped more than 200 million smartphones in 2018, over half of which were sold in markets outside China. It shipped 58.4 million handsets in the first quarter of 2019, compared with 40 million in the same period a year ago, maintaining its ranking as the No. 2 smartphone vendor worldwide, according to Gartner data.

Vincent Peng, Huawei’s head of corporate communications, said in Shenzhen on Wednesday that the company had now signed 42 5G contracts around the world. He added that in the next four years, if Huawei were allowed to participate in the North American market, it could save telecoms operators an estimated US$20 billion in 5G network roll-out costs.

In addition to stockpiling several months’ worth of key US components to keep operations running smoothly, Huawei has made long-term adjustments to its business continuity plan, added Peng.

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To deal with the situation, Huawei is increasing the production of chips designed by its wholly owned semiconductor company, HiSilicon.

The company is also preparing to roll out its own Hongmeng mobile operating system, which would replace Google’s Android should it no longer be able to work with US companies for the foreseeable future.

Huawei has pointed out that a US ban on its gear will only hurt US technological and economic interests by reducing competition and driving up prices.

Rural telecoms operators, many of whom have already incorporated Huawei gear into their networks, may be priced out, leaving swathes of the rural US without access to internet services.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Huawei seeks to speed up US lawsuit
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