KARACHI: Huawei on Tuesday denied allegations that it spied on Pakistan and stole trade secrets, saying there is no evidence it ever implanted any “backdoor” in its products.

The company’s statement comes after a US-based firm — Business Efficiency Solutions (BES) LLC — sued Huawei in a California federal court for allegedly stealing its trade secrets following their work together on a project for the Punjab government.

According a Dawn.com report, the American company had accused the Chinese tech giant of using its technology to create a “backdoor” that allowed it to collect sensitive data “important to Pakistan’s national security”.

Huawei Pakistan had filed for arbitration in an Islamabad court against BES over “ongoing contract disputes” in September 2018.

The arbitration process is still ongoing, the company said, adding that it would not comment on ongoing legal cases.

“Huawei respects the intellectual property of others, and there is no evidence Huawei ever implanted any backdoor in our products,” the statement said.

The allegations in the suit stem from a long running legal dispute between the companies, it said.

“Huawei hired BES to provide software and other services to help it win the rights to build Lahore’s Safe City project in 2016. The relationship soured, and Huawei sued BES in Pakistan, where BES also sued Huawei. Those proceedings are ongoing. BES is no longer operational and has no revenue,” the statement said.

It also said Huawei had acknowledged setting up a separate version of the Lahore project in China in comments to the Wall Street Journal; however, it was a test version that was physically isolated from the customer’s live network.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2021