Huawei Responds to Australian Government: National security is often used as an excuse for trade protection

According to foreign media reports, Huawei's recent joint standing committee on Australian parliamentary trade and investment growth said the company believes national security is often used as an excuse for trade protectionism in recent years, and the commission is investigating the trade and digital economy.

Simon Lacey, head of Huawei global government affairs, said national security should not be used as a 'blank check to hide trade protectionism' or as a name for protectionism, although he did not mention specific cases.

Lacey said that the free trade exception is best incorporated into the WTO rules, and if so, companies can use WTO dispute settlement procedures to avoid 'public policy exceptions.'

In a forthcoming paper, Huawei said: "The government intervenes in the digital economy in many ways, directly or indirectly, to meet a wide range of policy objectives, which in most cases are perfectly legitimate and commendable. Therefore, this document calls for a "reasonable regulatory objective," so that such a goal will not cause "disguised restrictions on international trade."

Huawei's dissatisfaction in this regard has its own reasons: Huawei was banned from bidding for Australia's national broadband network in 2012. Subsequently, the Australian government intervened in a submarine cable project in which Huawei was responsible for building a network with the Solomon Islands.

As the fiber optic cable will land in Australia (also landing in Papua New Guinea), the government proposes that the Foreign Affairs and Trade Department finance and construct Vocus, a local telecoms company in Australia, according to Australian media ABC News, Vocus will receive $ 2.8 million Of the financial support for the project is not yet clear the final cost.

Despite these restrictions, Huawei is also a member of Australia's 5G working group announced in December last year.

The situation in the United States is also very similar to the United States Senate is considering whether the U.S. government contract should exclude ZTE and Huawei.

Regarding national security concerns, Lech told the committee that about 30% of Huawei's production activities are located in Asia, and Cambodia and Vietnam are also important production bases besides China while the United States and Europe also make up 30% of Huawei's production respectively %.

In its report to the committee, Huawei said that almost everyone in the digital economy is "forced to face market inconsistency and uncertainty in terms of market access and post-market treatment."