Huawei 'gives Biden the finger' at biggest mobile fair

A contingent of Chinese companies led by technology giant Huawei is turning the Mobile World Congress into an opportunity to show their muscle in the face of Huawei's blacklisting by Western nations.

The world's biggest wireless trade fair opened yesterday in Barcelona, Spain, and out of 2,000 exhibitors, 150 are Chinese firms.

Huawei Technologies has the biggest presence, taking up almost an entire vast exhibition hall at Barcelona's Fira convention center, organizers said.

The US three years ago successfully pushed allies like Britain and Sweden to ban or restrict Huawei equipment in their phone networks over fears Beijing could use it for cybersnooping or sabotaging critical communications infrastructure - allegations Huawei has denied repeatedly. Japan, Australia New Zealand and Canadahave taken similar action.

Brian Chamberlin, executive adviser at Huawei's wireless carrier group, said "the sanctions have had a big impact" but the company is "not going to try to break any of those rules."

"But at the same time, that's not going to slow us down from delivering innovation, innovative solutions," he said at the expo. "We will continue to do business with companies and countries that want our support."

Huawei's supersized presence at the show is a sign of defiance, said John Strand, a Danish telecom industry consultant. Huawei wants to "give Biden the finger," Strand said of the US president. The company's message, he said, is: "Despite the American sanctions, we are alive and kicking and doing so well."

He said Huawei wants to show the world it's pivoting away from mainly making networking gear and becoming an all-round tech supplier.

The company is reinventing itself by supplying hardware and software for cargo ports, self-driving cars, factories and other industries it hopes are less vulnerable to Washington.

Huawei is just part of the larger Chinese delegation, whose turnout is getting a boost from China lifting all Covid-19 travel restrictions. ZTE, another Chinese tech company that had been sanctioned by the US, plans product launches at MWC.