Washington: how it expelled Huawei from Europe

Huawei "abandons Europe", writes Politico, reporting that the Chinese telecom company is "curtailing its European operations and putting its ambitions for global leadership on ice."

"The reasons for this have nothing to do with the company's commercial capabilities — Huawei is still able to offer cutting-edge technology at a lower cost than its competitors — or anything to do with politics, according to interviews with more than 20 current and former executives and strategic advisors of the company".

Pressured by the United States out of a continent it once considered its most strategic overseas market, Huawei is now turning to the Chinese market, focusing on the remaining European market in the few countries — Germany and Spain, but also Hungary — that are still willing to host a company considered a security risk in the West.

"It is no longer a company that floats in globalization," said a Huawei executive. "It's a company that saves its ass in the domestic market...".

Huawei's predicament was summed up by company founder Ren Zhengfei in a speech to executives at the company's Shenzhen headquarters in July. He listed the three challenges the company has faced over the past three years: hostility from Washington, disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has upended global supply chains and raised European concerns about over-reliance on countries such as China.

"The environment we faced in 2019 was different from the one we face today," Ren said in his speech, which was not made public by Politico. "Don't assume we'll have a better future."

"We had a past ideal for globalization and we tried to serve all humanity," he added. “What is our ideal today? the Survival….!”

"We will leave markets in some countries," the company's founder said in a speech this summer.
"For example, we will leave the markets in the countries by Five Eyes and India".

"Five Eyes" refers to an information sharing agreement between the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. All five countries have banned or are in the process of banning Huawei and other Chinese companies over security concerns.