Chinese telecom company accused of aiding Taliban
BANGALORE, India Huawei Technologies Inc., a Chinese telecommunications equipment maker, is mired in controversy following reports that India's intelligence agencies have placed the company's Indian operations on a watch list for alleged business dealings with the Taliban, Pakistan and Iraq.
The reports quoted Indian government sources as saying that Huawei India allegedly helped supply communication surveillance equipment to Taliban forces in Afghanistan. It is also alleged to have helped upgrade Iraq's military communication systems. Another allegation had Huawei selling telecommunication gear to Pakistan, India's military rival. No further details on the precise nature of the technology supplied was available...
Huawei has close cooperation with leading Indian software companies such as Satyam Computers, Sasken and Tata Elxsi, and has completed about 20 projects with its partners. Huawei's India center develops wideband switching, mobile communications, wireless infrastructure, network management and voice-over-Internet Protocol application technologies.
The Bangalore center, Huawei's largest outside China, plays a strategic role in Huawei's ability to rapidly develop technologies and scale up its engineering processes. Launched in 1999, the center was formally opened in February of this year. It currently employs 513 workers, including 178 Chinese nationals. The remainder are Indians.
The Taliban controversy was also fueled by the fact that Huawei is known to be one of the best-paying firms for software professionals in Bangalore, a haven for software development. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Huawei pays its staff about 150 percent more than other companies here.
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