In a lengthy statement released this week, Huawei accused the United States government of attempting to infiltrate its networks and harassing its employees.
The accusations are the latest in the ongoing fight between the US and the Chinese tech giant. Officials believe Huawei could act as a tool for espionage by the Chinese government, which the company has repeatedly denied it would do.
The US, according to Huawei’s new statement, “has been using every tool at its disposal — including both judicial and administrative powers, as well as a host of other unscrupulous means — to disrupt the normal business operations of Huawei and its partners.”
While the company has levied similar charges in the past, Huawei released a bullet point list with new accusations, including that the US has tried to hack its “intranet and internal information systems.” There were no other details provided in the statement, including whether the purported attack was successful.
Huawei also claimed that law enforcement has harassed its employees, including by visiting their homes, and that the US was “attempting entrapment, or pretending to be Huawei employees to establish legal pretense for unfounded accusations against the company.”
Huawei released the statement following a Wall Street Journal report last week that the Department of Justice was investigating accusations that the company had stolen smartphone camera patents. The company denied the allegations in the statement.
The US effectively blacklisted Huawei from working with American companies through executive action earlier this year. China is locked in an escalating trade war with the Trump administration, and the fate of Huawei is seen as potentially crucial to those negotiations.