Wolf Continues to Push Lobbying Firm to Drop Chinese Client
House Appropriations subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf sent Sidley Austin another letter today calling on the lobbying shop to drop the Chinese telecom company Huawei as a client.
In the letter, Wolf points out that the House Armed Service Committee singled out the company saying Huawei is "likely to continue to provide billions of dollars in Chinese Government support. The report also stated that these firms have been blocked from certain deals with U.S. firms because of national security concerns." Wolf goes on to highlight Huawei's support for the Taliban, Saddam Hussein and Iran.
In a handwritten note at the bottom of the letter, Wolf writes. "Taliban, Iran, Iraq, China . . . What more needs to be said? What is this town coming to?"
Last week, Wolf sent a similar letter to Sidley Austin after his office learned that former Rep. Rick Boucher was representing Huawei. A Huawei executive then emailed the Alley to call Wolf's letter "disinformation."
Sidley Austin officials, including Boucher, have not responded to requests for comment. A Huawei executive has not yet responded to a request for comment on Wolf's newest letter. We'll update if we hear back.
UPDATE: William Plummer, Huawei's vice president of external affairs, emails:
Huawei appreciates Rep. Wolf's geopolitical concerns, but objects to his further misrepresentations of Huawei, an independent multinational with well-respected and trusted global operations.For the record: Huawei is an employee-owned company independent from any government. Huawei has not received billions in subsidies from the Chinese or any other government, as our KPMG-audited financials make clear. Huawei has not sold technologies into any markets anywhere other than standard commercial telecommunications solutions, like our competitors. These are facts - those that claim otherwise should either substantiate their claims or stop interfering with legitimate competition, commerce, global trade, and American economic growth and jobs.
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