TELECOMS and the HUAWEI CONUNDRUM Chinese Foreign Direct Investment in the United States
AEI ECONOMIC STUDIES TELECOMS AND THE HUAWEI CONUNDRUM Chinese Foreign Direct Investment in the United States CLAUDE BARFIELD November 2011 AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE AEI ECONOMIC STUDIES TELECOMS AND THE HUAWEI CONUNDRUM Chinese Foreign Direct Investment in the United States CLAUDE BARFIELD November 2011 AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE Acknowledgments The author would like to thank the following for commenting on parts or all of the manuscript or providing advice and counsel: Adam Lerrick, Theodore Moran, Daniel Rosen, Philip Levy, Mark Groombridge, William Plummer, Lixin Cheng, Derek Scissors, James Mulvenon, Charles Hunnicutt, Nicholas Lardy, Alex Pollock, Peter Wallison, and Richard Suttmeier. The author would also like to thank Robert Fisher and Patrick Schneider for research and fact- checking assistance. Any errors in fact or judgment are mine. iii Foreword n this first paper in the AEI Economic Studies benefitting from subsidized loans from the China Iseries, we present “Telecoms and the Huawei Development Bank. Conundrum” by Claude Barfield. While the paper In light of these fears, there has been an attempt traces the historical evolution of a single Chinese to marginalize the company in the US telecom mar- company, the backdrop is the role of China itself in ket. In 2010, when Sprint Nextel was considering the new world economic order. As China grows in awarding a multibillion dollar contract to Huawei, power and influence, its opaque and often secretive political interference from Washington prevented the nature continues to make other countries wary. deal from taking place. In February, the American Often the concern is merely economic, as many government even forced Huawei to undo a minor worry that Chinese firms receive benefits from the deal: the $2 million purchase of patents from 3Leaf, Chinese government that give them unfair advan- a bankrupt Silicon Valley startup.
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