Over the last year, the US government has conducted a ferocious lobbying campaign against Huawei, the Chinese tech giant seeking to rebuild the world’s telecoms networks. American officials claim the company is an arm of the Chinese state and could be forced to spy on citizens and businesses at Beijing’s behest (allegations Huawei firmly denies).
The US has even threatened to withhold intelligence from states which buy the company’s telecoms equipment. But on 24 April, as representatives of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance prepared to meet publicly on British soil for the first time, the campaign began to unravel.
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