華爲攤牌失手Huawei’s emergence from shadows backfires

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. When Huawei, the Chinese network equipment vendor, decided to take the initiative in addressing its image problems in the US, it chose this saying by former US president Abraham Lincoln to make a point.

品格如樹，名譽如影。當中國網絡設備製造商華爲決定採取主動，解決其在美國的形象問題時，它選用了美國前總統亞伯拉罕?林肯(Abraham Lincoln)的這句話來闡明觀點。

“In recent years, misperceptions and rumours have been the shadow of Huawei, affecting Huawei’s reputation and, we believe, the United States government’s judgment of Huawei,” wrote Ken Hu, the company’s then vice-chairman in February 2011 in an open letter lamenting his company’s virtual exclusion from the US market for suspicions that it might be a national security threat.

2011年2月，時任華爲副董事長的胡厚昆(Ken Hu)在一封公開信中表示：“近年來，誤解和謠言如影隨形地追隨華爲。我們認爲，這影響了華爲的聲譽以及美國政府對華爲的評判。”他在信中抱怨，由於美國懷疑華爲可能威脅國家安全，華爲幾乎被擋在美國市場門外。

Mr Hu then invited the US government to carry out “a formal investigation of any doubts it may have about Huawei in an effort to reach a clear and accurate conclusion”.

隨後胡厚昆邀請美國政府“對華爲存在的任何質疑發起正式調查，以期得出清晰準確的結論。”

On Monday that conclusion was reached. But it is certainly not what Huawei management, and Mr Hu – now acting chief executive – may have hoped for. Wrapping up a year-long investigation into the company and its smaller rival ZTE which began on Mr Hu’s urging, the US House Committee on Intelligence found that the risks associated with Huawei’s and ZTE’s provision of equipment to US critical infrastructure “could undermine core US national-security interests”.

本週一，調查得出了結論。不過結論肯定不是華爲的管理層以及現任代理首席執行官的胡厚昆所期待的。美國衆議院情報委員會(US House Committee on Intelligence)結束了在胡厚昆敦促下啓動的、對華爲及其較小的競爭對手中興(ZTE)爲期一年的調查，發現華爲和中興向美國關鍵基礎設施提供設備所帶來的風險“可能損害美國的國家安全核心利益”。

One of the recommendations from the intelligence panel is that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (Cfius), which already examines mergers and acquisitions, be given the task of probing purchasing agreements – a situation under which Huawei and ZTE could be completely blocked from the US market. It also calls for a probe into Chinese government support for its telecom equipment makers.

情報委員會提出的建議之一是，讓已經從事併購檢查的美國外國投資委員會(CFIUS)承擔調查採購協議的任務（在這種情況下，華爲和中興可能會被完全擋在美國市場門外）。它還呼籲對中國政府向國內電信設備製造商提供的支持發起調查。

For Huawei and ZTE, the implications are wide ranging and long term. There could be trade action, future acquisition plans are even less likely to succeed and even smaller contracts with regional operators, of which Huawei has been able to land a few, could become more difficult to achieve.

這對華爲和中興的影響廣泛而長遠。可能會有貿易行動，未來的收購計劃成功機率更小，甚至從地方運營商贏得較小合同（華爲拿到了幾筆）都會變得更加困難。

The overall message is simple: they are not welcome in the US market. “They seem to be saying: we view you as the enemy because you are from China,” said a US citizen who works at Huawei’s US headquarters in Plano, Texas. “Why isn’t there similar scrutiny of companies like [Sweden’s] Ericsson or [France’s] Alcatel-Lucent?”

總體信息很簡單：它們在美國市場不受歡迎。在華爲位於德克薩斯州普萊諾美國總部工作的一名美國公民說：“他們似乎在說：我們把你們視爲敵人，因爲你們來自中國。爲什麼（瑞典）愛立信(Ericsson)或者（法國）阿爾卡特-朗訊(Alcatel-Lucent)之類的企業沒有受到類似的關注？”

Mr Hu’s outpouring raised eyebrows at the time but it was the result of frustration accumulated for almost a decade. While the company kept investing in the US, building a local research and development presence, sales force and security architecture, it kept being rebuffed.

胡厚昆當時的言論令人矚目，但那是將近10年期間積累下來的挫敗的結果。雖然華爲一直在美國投資，在當地建立研發中心、銷售團隊和安全架構，但還是不斷受到排斥。

In 2008, Huawei was forced to drop a joint bid with Bain Capital for 3Com, the US network equipment maker following objections from Cfius. In 2010, the company lost out to rivals in bidding for a major contract from Sprint after the commerce secretary called the US carrier’s management expressing concerns about the deal. And last year Huawei even had to abort a deal to buy patents from 3Leaf, a US technology company, after Cfius suggested it bow out.

2008年，由於美國外國投資委員會反對，華爲被迫放棄與貝恩資本(Bain Capital)聯手競購美國網絡設備製造商3Com。2010年，華爲對Sprint一筆大額合同的競標輸給了競爭對手，原因是美國商務部長致電Sprint的管理層，表達了自己對華爲的擔憂。去年，在美國外國投資委員會表示反對之後，華爲放棄了購買美國科技公司3Leaf專利的計劃。

But Huawei’s moves over the past two years show that the company has been preparing for a day like this. At the same time Mr Hu campaigned for a fair hearing, management restructured the company to help it diversify away from the network infrastructure business into selling handsets and tablets to consumers and equipment and services for enterprises.

但過去兩年華爲的舉措表明，該公司已經預料到了這一天。在胡厚昆大力呼籲展開公平聽證的同時，管理層調整了公司結構，從網絡基礎設施業務向多元化發展，進入面向消費者的手機和平板電腦領域，以及面向企業的設備和服務領域。

Huawei has been pouring millions into building a consumer brand, and has been pushing handset sales. ZTE is mirroring the move. “The handset market is not only larger but also faster growing,” said Shi Lirong, ZTE chief executive, in an effort to explain why the company was shifting focus from network equipment to cellphones.

華爲投入數百萬美元打造消費品牌，並一直推動手機銷量。中興也在效仿。中興首席執行官史立榮表示：“手機市場不僅更加龐大，而且增長更加迅猛，”他在解釋中興爲什麼從網絡設備向手機業務轉移時表示。

Although Huawei executives deny the shift means the company is giving up on the US market, the changes are making it less vulnerable to being blocked out of the US because handsets and enterprise business are considered less sensitive than supplying network infrastructure.

儘管華爲高管否認這種轉移意味着該公司放棄了美國市場，但這些變化使其不那麼容易被美國拒之門外，因爲與供應網絡基礎設施相比，手機和企業業務被認爲不那麼敏感。