(Srinivasa Prasad and R. Krishnan )
Hindustan Times
11 December 2001
A tip-off from agencies in the US had alerted Indian authorities about the activities of the Bangalore-based software firm Huawei Technologies. Citing a note compiled from intelligence inputs that is to come up for discussion when the Cabinet Committee on Security meets next, the Hindustan Times reported that the firm may have had business dealings with Pakistan, the Taliban and Iraq which were prejudicial to India's security interests. Central agencies had put Huawei on the watchlist well before the September 11 attacks, but the revelation seems to have taken the Karnataka government by surprise.
State information technology secretary Vivek Kulkarni dispatched officials to Huawei to question senior executives about the company's business dealings. The Karnataka government hasn't come up with anything but senior software professionals attribute Huawei's "unusual growth" to the firm's "unusual activities" and known disrespect for intellectual property rights. The company, formed in 1988, claims total sales of US$ 2.66 billion in 2000, an increase of almost 80 per cent over the previous year's US$ 1.5 billion.
The Silicon Tong
( Ashok Parthasarthi)
The Times of India
21 January 2002
A while ago, several national dailies carried reports about the government having “discovered” that the Bangalore-based Chinese company Huawei Technologies may have helped Pakistan and the Taliban upgrade their telecom network with both hardware and software during 2000 and 2001. The reports go on to state that, according to intelligence sources, all the company’s 300 software professionals are Chinese and that the chief executive of the company was formerly an officer of the People’s Liberation Army of China
(Hey, why aren't more Freepers interested in this thread?)