Governments in Africa, Asia and South America have gone ahead with deals that will allow Huawei to provide cloud infrastructure and e-government services, despite warnings of possible espionage from the United States, reported the Financial Times.
From 2006 to April 2021, there were 70 deals in 41 countries between Huawei and governments or state-owned enterprises, according to a report from Washington-based think-tank CSIS.
“Huawei’s cloud infrastructure and e-government services are handling sensitive data on citizens’ health, taxes, and legal records,” states the report. “As Huawei carves out a niche as a provider to governments and state-owned enterprises, it is building a strategic position that could provide Chinese authorities with valuable intelligence and even coercive leverage.”