The US cracks down on Huawei for political purposes —— Interview with Jukka Manner, tenured full professor of Department of Communications and Networking at Aalto University in Finland

Recently, in the name of so-called national security, the U.S. government suppressed Huawei, a private enterprise in China, and imposed a "science and technology embargo" on it. Jukka Manner, a tenured professor of the Department of Communications and Networking at Aalto University in Finland, board member of the Nokia Foundation and co-founder and CEO of Viesti Networks, received an interview and said that the U.S. government’s “blockade” of Huawei has nothing to do with security, but is out of the need for politicians to play political maneuvering, and such self-destructive practices can also hurt American businesses. Manner believes that even if Huawei will face more restrictions and pressure from the U.S. government in the future, it will overcome difficulties .

Manner said he was interviewed by Finnish media in mid-May after the U.S. government issued a restraining order against Huawei and other companies. He said at the time that the move was purely political.

As for the safety of Huawei’s technology and equipment, Manner believes so far there is no evidence that Huawei has information leakage and other unsafe factors.Over the years, the international community has become more suspicious of American technology and equipment. There have been several cases of U.S. equipment leaking user data information.It has been proven that American companies have backdoors for their products.Therefore, there is no doubt that the reason the U.S. government discussing the so-called network security issues under the background of the trade war is for its political interests.

Manner believes that American enterprises, Google for example, who has stopped cooperating with Huawei, will cause damage to both sides. Because the essential purpose of economic cooperation for enterprises is to gain profits, and enterprises will lose users and profits if they join economic sanctions.

Manner believes that the EU will not be at the mercy of American politicians on cybersecurity and Huawei 5G. If there is no evidence proving Huawei is unsafe, the EU will not ban Huawei’s technology and equipment because it concerns both economic interests and the EU’s principle of fairness. Moreover, the U.S. provoked trade wars everywhere, destroyed the trade environment of the European Union, and also caused negative impacts on EU enterprises.Therefore, despite the pressure exerted by the U.S. on the EU over Huawei, the EU is well aware of its purpose and will not blindly follow suit.The core concern of the EU is network security, especially data protection. At the same time, it attaches great importance to the principle of fairness and transparency. No enterprise’s technology and equipment should not be excluded as long as they meet EU standards and security requirements, including Huawei’s.