A development team at the Huawei research center in Munich has made serious allegations against the Chinese group. As the “Welt am Sonntag” reported, citing correspondence available to it, a manager is said to have commissioned the IT specialists in March 2019 to research software from US competitor Cisco and to recreate it. Accordingly, the order could have come directly from the Huawei headquarters in China. It was not known what software it was. Cisco is known, among other things, for its routers.
Termination and termination of the contract
The team members described according to “Welt am Sonntag” that they had resisted the order and asked for clarification with the legal department. However, this clarification did not take place. After the team refused to carry out the order, several of them felt the consequences. One employee’s employment contract was terminated, another was demoted and a third, who worked as a freelancer, was not given a contract extension.
Huawei Germany: No violations
Huawei Germany rejected the allegations. The process had been checked internally, according to the company. Neither “external legal or contractual regulations nor internal guidelines were violated at any time”. An infringement of intellectual property rights never took place and was never planned or intended. Huawei did not comment on the professional consequences for the employees concerned.
Discussion about 5G participation
Huawei is one of the world’s largest telecommunications equipment suppliers and is a leader in 5G technology. In numerous countries, including Germany, there are concerns that Huawei technology could be a gateway for Chinese espionage. The USA and Great Britain have therefore excluded the company from setting up their 5G networks. The British are putting pressure on European countries to do the same.
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