Some U.S. lawmakers recently raised questions upon Google's tie with Huawei. The group of lawmakers which consist of members from Republicans and Democrats expressed their concerns for the U.S.national security and asked Google LLC to stop collaborating with Huawei, the Chinese tech giant which is known to be the largest telecom-equipment maker in the world.
In a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the lawmakers stated that China-based Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. has extensive ties with Chinese Communist Party. They feared a serious threat to U.S. national security as well as to the American consumers if Google's partnership with Huawei remains alive, as quoted by Neowin.
It should be noted in this context that Google authorities announced their partnership with Huawei in January, this year. As per the terms of this tie-up, Google will integrate its newest instant-messaging app: Android Messages in Huawei's smartphones. Recently, Google refused to continue with Project Maven, an artificial intelligence research initiative made by the Department of Defense to ensure the accuracy of U.S. military operations.
Potential sources claimed that the lawmakers issued this letter to Pichai in attempt to counterstrike Google's take. According to Caixin, the letter was signed by Republican Representatives Liz Cheney and Michael Conaway, Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio and Democratic Representative Dutch Ruppersberger, who altogether urged Google CEO to turn down the deal with Huawei.
In the letter, they said: "While we regret that Google did not want to continue a long and fruitful tradition of collaboration between the military and technology companies."
They further added:"we are even more disappointed that Google apparently is more willing to support the Chinese Communist Party than the U.S. military."
Google, however, issued a positive response. It stated that the company has been in a dozen partnerships and agreement with various Original Equipment Makers (OEMs) in the United States as well as in the countries throughout the world. Huawei is just an OEM partner like others. It never shares any sort of "special access to Google user data as part of these agreements." Google also ensured that it takes special attention and care to protect the privacy and security of user data.
Huawei, which is currently regarded as the third largest smartphone producer in the world after Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Apple Inc., choose to remain silent in this matter. Now it is to see how Google moves forward with Huawei's partnership in near future.
