Follow CGSP on Social Media

Listen to the CGSP Podcast

The New U.S. Plan to Challenge Huawei is Dead on Arrival in Africa

by Eric Olander
A monitor displays the logo for “Huawei” behind Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as he speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington,DC on July 15, 2020. Andrew Harnik / POOL / AFP

The United States is stepping up its efforts to try and contain Chinese tech companies like Huawei with a new development financing program that aims to persuade countries in places like Africa to avoid using equipment made by the telecom giant.

The idea here is to challenge one of Huawei’s key advantages by providing government-backed financing that Washington hopes will convince governments and telecom operators in emerging markets to buy networking equipment made by Finland’s Nokia, Sweden’s Ericsson, or South Korea’s Samsung, for example.

Lead the Conversation on China

Subscribe Today to Get Full Access to The China-Global South Project

Check Out Everything You'll Get With Your Subscription

The China-Global South Daily Brief delivered to your inbox at 6AM Washington time

Full access to exclusive news and analysis from editors based in the Global South

Transcripts of CGSP’s twice-weekly podcasts

Students and teachers with a valid .edu email address are eligible for a 50% discount off monthly or yearly subscriptions. Email us to receive a discount code.

You Might Like

Why the U.S. Campaign Against Huawei Will Fail in Africa

For the first time in years, the United States is seeing progress in its relentless effort to persuade/force/cajole (it really depends on your viewpoint) countries against using networking equipment from the Chinese telecom ...

The Huawei Fuss and Implications For Africa’s Cyber Security

The last decade has seen unprecedented advances in technology, from machine learning used to forecast patient health outcomes to renewable energy and biofuels adopted across a range of advanced, emerging, and developing market ...

Worrying About Huawei in Africa Misses the Bigger Issue

Say what you want about the marginally effective U.S. campaign against Huawei, they do deserve some credit for keeping the issue of network security at the forefront of the wider discussion about next-generation ...

What is The China-Global South Project?

Independent

The China-Global South Project is passionately independent, non-partisan and does not advocate for any country, company or culture.

News

A carefully curated selection of the day’s most important China-Global South stories. Updated 24 hours a day by human editors. No bots, no algorithms.

Analysis

Diverse, often unconventional insights from scholars, analysts, journalists and a variety of stakeholders in the China-Global South discourse.

Networking

A unique professional network of China-Africa scholars, analysts, journalists and other practioners from around the world.

Subscribe