President Donald Trump Wednesday (Sept. 4) declined to comment on whether the U.S. had launched cyber attacks against Chinese telecom Huawei.
In a press release last week, Huawei said the U.S. was taking various, unscrupulous" actions to disrupt its business operations--U.S. intelligence agencies are in agreement the company's alleged ties to the Chinese government make it a national security threat.
According to Huawei, those many efforts include "launching cyber attacks to infiltrate Huawei's intranet and internal information systems."
Asked by a reporter Wednesday (Sept. 4) whether he had a comment on that allegation by a reporter in an Oval Office press availability, the President said, not adding: "It’s a national security concern. Huawei is a big concern of our military, or our intelligence agencies."
The Trump Administration has given notice that the U.S. will not be strictly a defensive player when it comes to cyberspace and perceived threats.
“we are not doing business with Huawei," he said. "I’ll stop almost completely in a very short period of time” “We’re not going to be doing business with Huawei. We’re going to do our own business.”
Related: Chinese Telecoms Unwelcome in Government Contracts
Huawei was put on a Department of Commerce list of companies that U.S. tech companies can't supply with technology for their smart devices or 5G network equipment. But the "very short period of time" is an apparent reference to the fact that last month, the Administration extended the license allowing U.S. companies to supply tech to Huawei for another 90 days. That is on top of one previous 90-day extension.
