I think it’s related to Huawei’s PLA roots. Its founder spent an 11 year career in the PLA. It is not clear about huawei’s ownership structure outside that it is kind of owned by employees, but not really.
PLA in the past is basically a career choice for people from rural area. You get sponsored for education, and will get a job in the city after you quit the army. Most of my childhood friends served in the army before they got their jobs, because they sucked in school. That was the only choice for them.
Sure. He is older than me, I don't know what was the policy then.
My friends weren't from villages, their parents work in state owned entities, in order to get a position in these big state companies, you have to either have good education or being offered a job after military. In the past, the government must offer a job to people out of military. The most common reason for people to go into military is to have a job in the future. This applies to both city and villages. However, with the reduction of the army, this has changed. Now you get paid a good salary while in military, but you don't automatically get a job.
If you study well, but you cannot afford school, you can also go to military universities, where your expenses is paid, but you will have to work in the military for a fix number of years afterward.
Wait until the world finds out that most Israeli tech founders have roots in Unit 8200 ;) And a lot of US companies were founded through known CIA fronts.
Military roots or no, in the end every company must obey the laws of the country they’re founded first and foremost, and then try not to break the laws of the countries they operate in. This is the reality. Just like AT&T can be compelled to spy on X, Y; so can any other company be compelled by their government.
And this idea that western spying is good and Chinese spying is bad… its ludricuous. Spying is just bad.
It isn’t that Chinese spying is somehow less virtuous than American spying, it’s more why take the chance? The only reason China ever bothered with Cisco or Nortell at all was to copy their tech, but China wouldn’t let an overseas tech come in today to drive their cellphone network today. They would think that’s just stupid. But when America does the same they cry bloody murder.
Well, US has zero domestic 5G equipment manufacturers. So it is not really a question of China managing US mobile networks.
And Nokia/Ericsson/Samsung could have won the 5G core bids if the pricing structure and/or features were better than Huawei’s.
Not defending Huawei, but considering how the US market works… they won pretty fairly.
In the end customers will pay the price of “China bad”. And most likely tax payers for all the subsidies governments will telcos to remove Huawei equipment from their networks.
