All Huawei’s maneuvers (also in Italy)
In the United States, Huawei insinuates itself into universities, financing research calls but without officially appearing as a sponsor. In Italy, however, the Chinese company hires former politicians. The case (beaten by Formiche) of Mirella Liuzzi, former Grillina undersecretary at the Mise. All the details
Huawei, a Chinese company that creates telecommunications systems and smartphones – and which for years has been subjected to commercial restrictions by the United States for national security reasons – was secretly the sole financier of a research call for which they attended by several American universities and which is managed by a foundation based in Washington.
IS HUAWEI SECRETLY FINANCING US RESEARCH CALLS?
As revealed by Bloomberg , the call in question – launched in 2022 and managed by the Optica Foundation – has awarded millions of dollars to researchers and scientists from all over the world, including those from some prestigious American universities that have placed limits on collaboration with Huawei , such as Harvard and the University of Southern California.
The presence of Huawei was deliberately hidden, as stated in a document seen by Bloomberg : Optica, i.e. the non-profit organization to which the foundation of the same name belongs, "will not be required to designate Huawei as a source of funding or sponsor of the programme” of the research call; “the existence and content of this agreement and the relationship between the parties will also be considered confidential information”.
However, in a statement, Huawei stated that its collaboration with the Optica Foundation is not secret. Optica also claims that the list of its donors is published in the annual report. However, people who participated in the tender, university officials and one of the competition judges told Bloomberg they were not aware of Huawei's involvement in that specific project.
The call concerned sensitive topics, such as research on “highly sensitive optical sensors and detectors”. In 2019 the United States included Huawei in the entity list , i.e. a "black list" made up of foreign entities (such as companies, in fact, or research institutions) considered dangerous for American national security and therefore subject to various types of restrictions.
It is unclear whether Huawei's financing of the Optica ban constitutes a violation of US regulations. Bloomberg , in fact, explains that the Commerce Department's rules on the ban on sharing American technologies with Huawei were probably not broken, given that these rules do not apply to the specific theme of the competition (i.e. scientific research intended for publication).
IN ITALY HUAWEI RECRUITS LIUZZI (EX-MiSE)
If in the United States Huawei insinuates itself into the academic world, in Italy it recruits ex-government officials. As Gabriele Carrer, Formiche journalist, critically pointed out on X , Mirella Liuzzi (in the photo) was recently hired by Huawei as a strategic consultant for marketing and communication projects.
From 2013 to 2022 Liuzzi was a deputy of the 5 Star Movement (from 2017 to March 2018 she also held the position of secretary of the parliamentary group), dealing in particular with telecommunications. But above all she was undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Economic Development from 2019 to 2021, in the Conte II government; at the time the ministry was led by Stefano Patuanelli.
As undersecretary at the Mise, Liuzzi also followed the 5G dossier, one of Huawei's main sectors of interest.
Giulia Pompili, a journalist from Il Foglio who is an expert on China, commented on Liuzzi's entry into Huawei by speaking of the 5 Star Movement as a "large employment office" and recalling "the anonymous interview with the Chinese ambassador published at the time on the website of the MISE, and the denial of the ban on Huawei and ZTE".
– Read also: Is the very Chinese ZTE also grabbing Pnrr funds?
THE BACKGROUND OF LIUZZI AND HUAWEI
On Liuzzi's personal website you can find the full text of his speech at the 2018 "Huawei 5G Summit", dedicated to the potential of 5G connectivity.
In 2020, the then undersecretary – referring to the expulsion of Chinese companies from the telecommunications networks of US allied countries – declared to Il Sole 24 Ore that it was necessary to guarantee "the highest standards of cyber security", but "without keeping anyone out of the door preventively." Washington claims Huawei and ZTE may be transferring sensitive information to Chinese military; last June the European Commission determined that the two companies pose "materially higher risks than other 5G suppliers".
Interviewed by Formiche again in 2020, Liuzzi explained that "in Italy Tim already has collaboration contracts with Huawei, and it's not surprising. There are few vendors, it is inevitable that we work together." “In two years”, continued the ex-undersecretary, “we have made three law decrees on the security of strategic networks and 5G, we have strengthened the national cyber security perimeter, together with the French one, ours is the most stringent legislation in Europe. Of course, we take security concerns into account and do not ignore the geopolitical context. But this 'regulatory' route seems the most balanced to us."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/huawei-mirella-liuzzi/ on Fri, 03 May 2024 08:33:49 +0000.