Huawei's security problems are becoming a clash between the United States and China

For months, telecommunication companies around the world have struggled to decide what to do with Huawei. The United States has effectively put the company out of reach of US telecommunications networks, citing national security concerns – but as the rest of the world faces the same choice, not everyone is convinced that Huawei is a threat. Most US experts believe that Huawei's exposure to the Chinese government is dangerous in itself, but over time, the national division becomes more and more difficult to ignore.

This week, two more prominent figures took sides, for reasons that seemed more political than technological. Friday in Geneva, the head of the ITU, Houlin Zhao, pronounced publicly against the ban. "If you find something wrong, then you can charge [Huawei] and accuse them, "said Zhao. "But if we have nothing to do to blacklist them, I think it's not fair." Zhao was born in China and worked for the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the government before moving to the UN telecommunications union. not surprising that he would be concerned about the lack of evidence against the company.

At the same time, US officials are increasingly insisting that all Chinese companies are potentially suspicious. At a cybersecurity forum on Thursday, Chris Krebs, head of cybersecurity and infrastructure at DHS, said the main concern was the legal regime of the country of origin, rather than the specific product being shipped.

"We are not interested in the country of origin or in society, but in the question of what is the rule of law under which this product is potentially subject," said Krebs. This same logic could apply to other Chinese companies or to Russian exporters such as Kaspersky Lab's antivirus software. As Krebs says, "it is the rise of authoritarian states and the way they operationalize their technology sectors."

Different readers will sympathize with different parts, but it becomes more and more difficult to see how the argument can be solved with technical badysis. More and more, the fight around Huawei looks like a fight between the United States and China, in the middle of which everyone is trapped. And if the statements this week give the indication, it is a fight that will continue again and again.