An examination of spyware risks in Chinese tech devices and the global push to exclude them. Focusing on Huawei, this analysis explores technological dominance and security concerns linked to the Chinese state.

2019-01-31
There are even stories that in Chinese hotels, smartphone charging cables function as wiretaps, or that charging your device allows data to be siphoned off.
The following is from a special dialogue feature titled “Crush China’s Ambition for World Domination,” published in this month’s issue of WiLL, one of the monthly magazines that every Japanese citizen should read, featuring House of Councillors member Masamune Wada and Moe Fukada.
Sections marked ～ are my own.
There are even stories that in Chinese hotels, smartphone charging cables function as wiretaps, or that charging gradually extracts data from smartphones.
An Emerging Sense of Crisis.
Wada.
Fukada-san’s new book, Japan’s IT Industry Is Being Stolen by China (WAC), has been released.
It has been generating tremendous buzz even before publication, with advance reservations pouring in.
Fukada.
Thanks to everyone (laughs).
I have also begun receiving interview requests from newspapers and television.
Wada.
At the end of last year, Huawei’s vice-chairwoman was arrested in Canada.
It could not be a more timely theme.
Fukada.
This year as well, in Poland, a Huawei employee and a former Polish intelligence officer were arrested on suspicion of espionage.
Until this series of incidents over the past month or two, many Japanese probably regarded Huawei as nothing more than a “cheap smartphone manufacturer.”
Wada.
Now, suspicions that Huawei and the Chinese Communist Party may be one and the same, along with other facts previously unreported, are being exposed in broad daylight.
The attention being paid to your book reflects the awakening of a sense of crisis among the Japanese people.
In the United States, under the Trump administration, China’s technology theft was placed on the table.
Then, with the National Defense Authorization Act enacted last August, the exclusion of Chinese products such as Huawei and ZTE finally began.
You understand the mechanisms—where and what kinds of chips are embedded—don’t you.
Fukada.
Yes.
For example, when chips are mounted or embedded as components through manufacturing plants in China within other companies’ products, this is visible and relatively easy to understand.
However, in the case of their own products, they can embed elements within chip design itself or plant spyware in software—methods that are invisible.
Wada.
That makes detection vastly more difficult.
Fukada.
We are now in the IoT era, where everything is connected to the internet.
Not only smartphones, but televisions, refrigerators, and drones can all become spyware.
Wada.
If spyware is embedded in a laptop’s internal camera, our faces can be observed in real time.
Fukada.
There are even stories that in Chinese hotels, smartphone charging cables function as wiretaps, or that charging gradually extracts data from smartphones.
Wada.
But pointing out specifics may end up helping the enemy.
It is a difficult situation.
A Network Expanding Across the World.
Fukada.
A television station once asked me what evidence there is that Huawei is stealing information.
But we cannot easily reveal our hand, can we (laughs).
Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that the people at that television station are agents.
Wada.
Last October, Vice President Pence strongly condemned China’s technology theft.
It has been called the “second Iron Curtain speech,” but such statements cannot be made without evidence.
Without proof, the U.S. government could be sued by Huawei and ZTE and might even lose.
Moreover, countries beyond the United States are also excluding Chinese products from government procurement.
That is likely because reliable information is being shared among governments.
A frequent topic of debate is which is more dangerous—Huawei or ZTE.
Fukada.
Huawei may be the tougher one.
Since its founding in 1987, Huawei has grown rapidly alongside a Taiwanese secret society known as the Green Gang.
At the time, the Green Gang functioned like a spy organization under the CIA.
Huawei has simply utilized the overseas network built by that Green Gang.
Thus, while ZTE is used in about 30 countries, Huawei is used in more than 170.
To be continued.