华为摊牌失手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.

品格如树，名誉如影。当中国网络设备制造商华为决定采取主动，解决其在美国的形象问题时，它选用了美国前总统亚伯拉罕?林肯(Abraham Lincoln)的这句话来阐明观点。

“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，时任华为副董事长的胡厚昆(Ken Hu)在一封公开信中表示：“近年来，误解和谣言如影随形地追随华为。我们认为，这影响了华为的声誉以及美国政府对华为的评判。”他在信中抱怨，由于美国怀疑华为可能威胁国家安全，华为几乎被挡在美国市场门外。

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”.

随后胡厚昆邀请美国政府“对华为存在的任何质疑发起正式调查，以期得出清晰准确的结论。”

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”.

本周一，调查得出了结论。不过结论肯定不是华为的管理层以及现任代理首席执行官的胡厚昆所期待的。美国众议院情报委员会(US House Committee on Intelligence)结束了在胡厚昆敦促下启动的、对华为及其较小的竞争对手中兴(ZTE)为期一年的调查，发现华为和中兴向美国关键基础设施提供设备所带来的风险“可能损害美国的国家安全核心利益”。

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.

情报委员会提出的建议之一是，让已经从事并购检查的美国外国投资委员会(CFIUS)承担调查采购协议的任务（在这种情况下，华为和中兴可能会被完全挡在美国市场门外）。它还呼吁对中国政府向国内电信设备制造商提供的支持发起调查。

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.

这对华为和中兴的影响广泛而长远。可能会有贸易行动，未来的收购计划成功几率更小，甚至从地方运营商赢得较小合同（华为拿到了几笔）都会变得更加困难。

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?”

总体信息很简单：它们在美国市场不受欢迎。在华为位于德克萨斯州普莱诺美国总部工作的一名美国公民说：“他们似乎在说：我们把你们视为敌人，因为你们来自中国。为什么（瑞典）爱立信(Ericsson)或者（法国）阿尔卡特-朗讯(Alcatel-Lucent)之类的企业没有受到类似的关注？”

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.

胡厚昆当时的言论令人瞩目，但那是将近10年期间积累下来的挫败的结果。虽然华为一直在美国投资，在当地建立研发中心、销售团队和安全架构，但还是不断受到排斥。

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，由于美国外国投资委员会反对，华为被迫放弃与贝恩资本(Bain Capital)联手竞购美国网络设备制造商3Com。2010年，华为对Sprint一笔大额合同的竞标输给了竞争对手，原因是美国商务部长致电Sprint的管理层，表达了自己对华为的担忧。去年，在美国外国投资委员会表示反对之后，华为放弃了购买美国科技公司3Leaf专利的计划。

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.

但过去两年华为的举措表明，该公司已经预料到了这一天。在胡厚昆大力呼吁展开公平听证的同时，管理层调整了公司结构，从网络基础设施业务向多元化发展，进入面向消费者的手机和平板电脑领域，以及面向企业的设备和服务领域。

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.

华为投入数百万美元打造消费品牌，并一直推动手机销量。中兴也在效仿。中兴首席执行官史立荣表示：“手机市场不仅更加庞大，而且增长更加迅猛，”他在解释中兴为什么从网络设备向手机业务转移时表示。

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.

尽管华为高管否认这种转移意味着该公司放弃了美国市场，但这些变化使其不那么容易被美国拒之门外，因为与供应网络基础设施相比，手机和企业业务被认为不那么敏感。