Apple boycott by Chinese firms supporting Huawei is escalating
Huawei's chief financial officer's arrest in Canada amidst the trade dispute between the US and China has led Chinese firms to urge its employees to boycott Apple in retaliation -- and sanctioning those that don't comply.
In an attempt to show solidarity towards the Chinese telecommunications giant, companies in China are reportedly attempting to encourage employees to buy products from Huawei. Most companies offering such schemes are apparently subsidizing between 10 or 20 percent of the cost of a Huawei smartphone, though some are covering the entire cost of the device.
The support for Huawei doesn't stop at encouraging employees to buy from the firm, as Nikkei Asian Review reports more than 20 Chinese firms have announced on social media their intention to increase purchases of other Huawei products, including its business management system.
Other companies are also stepping in with pro-Huawei offers of their own. In one example given, a brewer is providing employees and customers who present a receipt for a Huawei purchase with free alcohol worth up to 30 percent of the value of the acquisition.
The outpouring of support follows the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on December 1, apprehended during a layover between flights. Meng was arrested at the request of the U.S. government, under claims the company violated U.S. sanctions against Iran.
The timing of the arrest is notable, as the U.S. government and China are in the middle of a trade dispute, caused in part through the Trump Administration's threats to apply tariffs on $200 billion of goods imported form China, with more tariffs also intended to be applied in the future. While initial tariffs did not apply to the iPhone, later tariffs are expected to impact the Apple smartphone's imports, and could potentially raise the cost per device by between $60 and $160.
At the same time as trying to support Huawei, firms are also attempting to boycott Apple products. One Shenzhen machinery producer has threatened to confiscate Apple devices from employees, and potentially fire those who do not comply with orders to hand the hardware over, while another tech company in the region claims it will punish employees who buy Apple items.
It is noted that Chinese consumers tend to boycott companies based in countries that have disagreements with the Chinese government. Examples given include stores owned by Japanese companies destroyed in 2012 during protests over the Senkaku Islands, and boycotts of South Korean companies including Hyundai and Lotte over the deployment of a U.S. Missile defense system in Seoul.
The attempts at a boycott of Apple products is also seemingly in response to firms and governments in Western countries working against the interest of Chinese firms like Huawei.
In August, a U.S. Defense bill blocked government agencies from buying devices from Huawei, ZTE, and other Chinese entities. In 2017, ZTE agreed to pay $892 million for violating U.S. Sanctions forbidding the sale of American technology to Iran and North Korea, following a year of restrictions placed on the company and its suppliers by the government.
Other countries have taken similar steps to get rid of Huawei equipment, under the belief they could be used to damage infrastructure on behalf of the Chinese government. In December, the UK's BT advised it wold not use Huawei hardware in its rollout of a 5G mobile network, and on Monday confirmed it was in the process of removing Huawei equipment from a communications system being developed for use by the police and other emergency services.
In an attempt to show solidarity towards the Chinese telecommunications giant, companies in China are reportedly attempting to encourage employees to buy products from Huawei. Most companies offering such schemes are apparently subsidizing between 10 or 20 percent of the cost of a Huawei smartphone, though some are covering the entire cost of the device.
The support for Huawei doesn't stop at encouraging employees to buy from the firm, as Nikkei Asian Review reports more than 20 Chinese firms have announced on social media their intention to increase purchases of other Huawei products, including its business management system.
Other companies are also stepping in with pro-Huawei offers of their own. In one example given, a brewer is providing employees and customers who present a receipt for a Huawei purchase with free alcohol worth up to 30 percent of the value of the acquisition.
The outpouring of support follows the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on December 1, apprehended during a layover between flights. Meng was arrested at the request of the U.S. government, under claims the company violated U.S. sanctions against Iran.
The timing of the arrest is notable, as the U.S. government and China are in the middle of a trade dispute, caused in part through the Trump Administration's threats to apply tariffs on $200 billion of goods imported form China, with more tariffs also intended to be applied in the future. While initial tariffs did not apply to the iPhone, later tariffs are expected to impact the Apple smartphone's imports, and could potentially raise the cost per device by between $60 and $160.
At the same time as trying to support Huawei, firms are also attempting to boycott Apple products. One Shenzhen machinery producer has threatened to confiscate Apple devices from employees, and potentially fire those who do not comply with orders to hand the hardware over, while another tech company in the region claims it will punish employees who buy Apple items.
It is noted that Chinese consumers tend to boycott companies based in countries that have disagreements with the Chinese government. Examples given include stores owned by Japanese companies destroyed in 2012 during protests over the Senkaku Islands, and boycotts of South Korean companies including Hyundai and Lotte over the deployment of a U.S. Missile defense system in Seoul.
The attempts at a boycott of Apple products is also seemingly in response to firms and governments in Western countries working against the interest of Chinese firms like Huawei.
In August, a U.S. Defense bill blocked government agencies from buying devices from Huawei, ZTE, and other Chinese entities. In 2017, ZTE agreed to pay $892 million for violating U.S. Sanctions forbidding the sale of American technology to Iran and North Korea, following a year of restrictions placed on the company and its suppliers by the government.
Other countries have taken similar steps to get rid of Huawei equipment, under the belief they could be used to damage infrastructure on behalf of the Chinese government. In December, the UK's BT advised it wold not use Huawei hardware in its rollout of a 5G mobile network, and on Monday confirmed it was in the process of removing Huawei equipment from a communications system being developed for use by the police and other emergency services.
Comments
The Five Eyes are aligned against Chinese Telecom equipment, and as they should be. There's no odds in a telecom infrastructure from an authoritarian government known for IP theft.
If Apple gets beaten up in China, then I'm guessing that China will no longer be the supply chain for Apple Products.
The Five Eyes already has a lot Huawei gear. Nothing surprising in that. What is new is the US desperately trying to stop Huawei progress for technological and political reasons under the guise of security and doing so, so late in the day that the UK roll out of 5G could be put back by a year and cost a lot more. All without a shred of evidence.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12176731
One of the two homes that are owned by Wanzhou and/or her husband here in Vancouver was the site of a home invasion during the time she was waiting for her bail hearing. The intruders left when someone confronted them, but the timing is awfully suspicious.
China has an authoritarian government, President for Life, and China is adamant about seizing the South China Sea per it's claims, which bodes ill for international trade. Given the rampant IP theft, and Chinese Hacking, I'm not seeing why democracies would risk using Huawei infrastructure.
Great Britain is in the process of reevaluating Huawei equipment; the rest, including the U.S., have little in the way of Huawei equipment in place, and most of that will be removed or replaced.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/australia-no-longer-isolated-as-five-eyes-turn-on-huawei-20181206-p50kk1.html
"In Australia, experts are also concerned about cyber-security attacks against our institutions and businesses emanating from China.
For example, consider recent reports in this newspaper that China’s peak security agency directed a surge in cyber attacks on Australian companies over the past year; and that internet traffic heading for Australia was diverted to China for a six-day period.
There's no suggestion Huawei is in anyway involved in these attacks. But the government's decision to ban it from Australia's 5G networks was certainly based on concerns about China.
"A long history of cyber incidents shows cyber actors target Australia and Australians," Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Mitch Fifield said in their joint statement back in August without directly mentioning China.
"The government considers that the involvement of vendors who are likely to be subject to
extrajudicial directions from a foreign government that conflict with Australian law, may risk
failure by the carrier to adequately protect a 5G network from unauthorised access or
interference."
In other words, the government was concerned that even if Huawei wasn't directly controlled by the Chinese government (the vendor has always denied that it is), under the country's laws it wouldn't be able to resist any demands made on it by Beijing."
Here; where companies have actively discouraged and or completely refuse to support Apple products within their IT infrasturctures.
Fixed.
Google isn't barred, it just has to play by the Chinese Governments rules. Same for Facebook.
The Chinese are hurting themselves.
Correction, they are FROM China, and as per Chinese law, as Tmay stated, they CANNOT refuse ANY order from the government, hence they're an integral part of the PRC government. Not to mention Huawei is a bunch of IP thieves, so their reputation is just as bad as most Chinese tech firms already.