Fact Check Huawei: What You Need to Know to Understand its Corporate Communication
Strand Consult’s goal is to help governments, telecom operators, shareholders, financial institutions, the press, and the public by bringing a critical eye to Huawei’s corporate communication. Strand Consult’s report fact checks Huawei’s claims in the media and on its website.
Since 2005, and especially in recent years, much has been written about the use of equipment made by Chinese state-owned and affiliated entities in communications networks. Huawei, given its coziness with the Chinese government and purported threat of backdoors, has been deemed untrustworthy by countries like United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, USA, among others. Some countries have banned the equipment all together, like Australia, while others, such as UK and France, restrict its use in critical locations and in sensitive parts of the network.
Huawei has spent significant resources to cultivate a narrative that they are a successful company and innocent victim of a trade war. Huawei’s corporate communication includes its financial statements and the microsite “Huawei Facts”. Huawei repeatedly claims that it shares the ”core values” of European nations, citing its belief in ”openness, innovation and rule of law.” It is interesting to question whether Huawei, China’s national champion, indeed shares Europe’s “core values” for human rights and freedom of expression.
This report summarizes Huawei’s tactics and arguments to defend its media narrative. It includes links to Huawei’s statements, sources for fact checks, and references for further information. Moreover, the report will teach you how to be critical of Huawei. It is important to read and listen to what Huawei says, and it is it is important to ask critical questions of Huawei and get their candid response.
One of the challenges to producing a report like Fact Check Huawei: What You Need to Know to Understand Its Corporate Communication is that Huawei is not a public company listed on a stock exchange and therefore is not subject to the same disclosure requirements as its competitors. The job of verifying and regulating the disclosure is not performed by authorities, nor reviewed by financial analysts, nor tire-kicked by investors.
Another problem is that Huawei does not want to answer critical questions.
Strand Consult’s new free report Fact Check Huawei: What You Need to Know to Understand Its Corporate Communication look at what Huawei calls “myths” and divides into six areas:
1. Why Fact Checking Huawei´s Corporate Communication
2. About Huawei
3. R&D: Research, development, and innovation
4. Cybersecurity and geopolitics
5. 5G networks
6. Huawei’s Communications, the Local Country Government, the Media, and the Public
The report creates much-needed transparency that many external actors have had difficulty creating. It is also helpful to educate observers to be more critical of Huawei’s corporate communication.
Naturally, corporate communication is a legitimate to domain, and free democratic societies encourage investigation and debate of information. Indeed journalists, analysts, and members of the public use the media to hold powerful organizations and corporations accountable.
Strand Consult’s new report Fact Check Huawei: What You Need to Know to Understand Its Corporate Communication details the misinformation in Huawei’s financial statements, its website “Huawei Facts“, and various public statements around the world. Strand Consult’s goal is to create transparency about Huawei so that its customers, telecom operators around the world, can make informed decisions. Strand Consult recognizes that making such a report requires saying difficult things that some telecom operators don’t want to hear. However, Strand Consult’s believes that telling the ugly truth is in the best long term interest of the shareholders of telecom operators.
Contact Strand Consult to get your free copy of the report Fact Check Huawei: What You Need to Know to understand its corporate communication.
