Huawei was involved in creating mass surveillance programs for Beijing and offered to produce technology that would enable the authorities to monitor the forced “re-education” of Uighurs in detention camps, an investigation has alleged.
A review of the telecommunications company’s confidential marketing materials by The Washington Post uncovered evidence that appears to contradict Huawei’s denials of a role in China’s state surveillance.
The Post reviewed over 100 Huawei PowerPoint presentations, many of them labeled “confidential,” in which the company detailed how the government could use its technologies to identify voices, track people for political purposes, and monitor the movements of inmates within prisons, among other surveillance tactics.
“Huawei has no knowledge of the projects mentioned in the Washington Post report,” the company said in a statement to the newspaper. “Like all other major service providers, Huawei provides cloud platform services that comply with common industry standards.”
While it could not confirm who the presentations were shown to, the newspaper said that PowerPoints detailing surveillance tactics specific to government agencies — such as slides appearing to refer to China’s controversial prison reeducation and labor programs — may have been intended for government audiences.
Huawei has historically addressed questions about its possible connections to the Chinese government by claiming that it only sells general-purpose networking gear, but some Western governments have still prohibited the use of Huawei tech amid concerns that the company was working with Beijing.
Check out the full report over at The Washington Post.
