Huawei Accuses the U.S. of Cyberattacks and Threats to Its Employees
Chinese tech giant didn’t provide specific evidence to back up allegations
HONG KONG—China’s Huawei Technologies Co. accused the U.S. of “using every tool at its disposal” to disrupt its business, including launching cyberattacks on its networks and instructing law enforcement to “menace” its employees.
Huawei detailed the numerous allegations against the U.S. in a press release issued on Tuesday, in which it also denied stealing smartphone-camera technology from Portuguese multimedia producer Rui Oliveira and accused him of “taking advantage of the current geopolitical situation.” China is locked in a trade dispute with Washington and struggling to deal with protests in Hong Kong.
The Wall Street Journal last week reported that U.S. prosecutors were probing several new alleged instances of intellectual-property theft by Huawei, including allegations that it stole smartphone-camera technology from Mr. Oliveira. Huawei received a subpoena requesting documents about the instances of alleged theft, the Journal reported.
In addition to denying Mr. Oliveira’s claims, Huawei leveled a number of new accusations against the U.S. Among them, it said the U.S. was “instructing law enforcement to threaten, menace, coerce, entice and incite both current and former Huawei employees to turn against the company and work for them.”
Huawei accused the U.S. of “sending FBI agents to the homes of Huawei employees” to pressure them into spying on the company. The company also said the U.S. has launched “cyberattacks to infiltrate Huawei’s intranet” and has searched, detained and arrested Huawei employees and its business partners.
Huawei didn’t provide specific evidence to back up the allegations. Representatives for the Justice Department and the Eastern District of New York, which is probing the new allegations of IP theft, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment and the No. 2 smartphone maker, has been fighting a series of escalating actions by the U.S. in the past year, including two criminal indictments and a campaign to pressure U.S. allies against using Huawei gear in their 5G network rollouts.
The fresh lines of investigation by American officials cover issues raised over two decades by people and companies that have accused Huawei of stealing their intellectual property. They overlap with a Journal story in May that detailed allegations by accusers ranging from longtime tech peers, including Cisco Technology Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc., to smaller businessmen including Mr. Oliveira and a musician in Seattle.
On Tuesday, Huawei singled out Mr. Oliveira, saying he was providing a “false narrative” to the media to hurt Huawei and extort from it. Mr. Oliveira told the Journal earlier this year that he met Huawei executives in May 2014 due to their interest in his patents for a camera attachment to smartphones. He accused Huawei of stealing his camera designs and threatened a lawsuit against Huawei.
The company sued Mr. Oliveira in March, asking a Texas federal court to issue a noninfringement ruling. The litigation remains unresolved. Huawei said it didn’t use Mr. Oliveira’s design, and that its product was different from Mr. Oliveira’s in key aspects. Mr. Oliveira referred the accusations to an attorney and had no immediate comment on Tuesday.