The United States allegedly shared hard, sensitive intelligence about Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei with allies such as the United Kingdom and Germany by the end of 2019, reports The Wall Street Journal. With that, the US would have deviated from earlier policy that prescribed that sharing hard evidence with allies would not be necessary to convince them of the risk that Huawei would pose.

According to the US, Huawei has access to back doors that are intended for telecom networks to be monitored by authorities. The Chinese manufacturer would have built that access into its equipment without the knowledge of the telecom providers.

Telecom networks worldwide are equipped with eavesdropping equipment with which police and intelligence services can monitor traffic. This authority is regulated by laws that oblige telecom providers to make this option available to the authorities.

Equipment suppliers should not be able to use these back doors without the permission of the telecom providers. According to the sources of The Wall Street Journal, Huawei does have this access, without the providers knowing about it.

The back doors would have been present in the 4G networks of the United States since 2009. The sources of The Wall Street Journal did not provide details of where Huawei would be able to exploit the alleged vulnerability. They also refused to consider whether the US has evidence that Huawei has granted itself access to an American telecom network through this route.

The US has been actively campaigning for months to persuade allies not to use Huawei devices in their networks. The Chinese telecom manufacturer would be abused by China to spy on the West. Huawei denies the allegations.