Wall Street Journal (09/07/12) Gorman, Siobhan
The U.S. House Intelligence Committee is expecting to hold public hearings next week in which it will question executives of Chinese telecom firms Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. about concerns over corporate espionage, the companies’ ties with the Chinese military and government, and their dealings with Iran. The hearings are part of a year-old probe into the companies by the committee, which has prompted several sharply worded warnings and statements by Huawei alleging it is being discriminated against and protesting its innocence of any wrong doing. ZTE has already announced that it will take part in the hearings and plans to send Senior Vice President Zhu Jinyun. Huawei, however, has said that its participation in the hearings will be conditional on the committee making “appropriate arrangements,” though it has not indicated what arrangements those might be. Both companies have been attempting to further expand into the American market, but have been tripped up by concerns about their leadership and practices. Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei is a former Chinese military technology officer and many are concerned that the People’s Liberation Army has an unknown degree of influence on the company, which could include having access to Huawei networks and devices. ZTE has been under scrutiny in part because of allegations that it has done business with Iran, potentially in violation of U.S. and international sanctions.