huawei yesterday made public details of its new factory in Brumat, near Strasbourg in eastern France, its first outside China. The French media described the investment as “check diplomacy”.
Huawei Technologies Co. expects to invest 200 million euros in the factory, which is scheduled to be completed in 2023, to manufacture mobile communications-related equipment, including 5th-generation mobile communications (5G) networks. The source said the factory will cover an area of 40,000 square meters and will initially employ 300 employees, which will increase to 500 afterwards. The Brumath plant will serve the whole of Europe.
Jacques Biot, chairman of Huawei France, said the factory will manufacture base stations and network communication-related equipment, with a “productivity of 1 billion euros” and bring “new technologies of cutting-edge technology” from China.
The US has always accused Huawei of being a Chinese government spy, and many countries, including France, have rejected the use of Huawei’s 5G equipment, so this strategic business decision has also sparked debate in France.
Huawei has pledged to “work with 300 French suppliers and 3,100 European partners” through its factories. The group has already set up 23 R&D centers in Europe, six of which are in France.
However, the French government, which has always been high-profile in welcoming foreign investment, kept a relatively low profile on the news. Agnes Pannier-Runacher, the French Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, said: “We should maintain our independence, regardless of who the equipment supplier is. We have a strong position on the issue of digital sovereignty. We are equally wary of all large corporations, regardless of their nationality.
In an analysis of “Why Huawei chose France,” Europe1 said it was a way for Huawei to avoid US sanctions and gain access to a country that still welcomes Chinese investment. Compared to the UK and Germany, France is relatively friendly to Huawei; even though France has restricted the use of Huawei 5G equipment by telecoms providers, it has not banned Huawei’s investment and activities in France.
Claude Sturni, head of the Haguenau metropolitan region where the plant is located, told Europe First radio: “I’m not going to turn this into a political issue… First of all it will bring jobs, we need jobs. This business will create value for Alsace and the rest of the region.
This is check diplomacy to convince governments and localities that Huawei can make a positive contribution to the economy,” said the special article. The point is to make people forget the shadow of the parent company, China”; as Huawei’s French executives have said, “We are a French company in France”.
Huawei has also stepped up its lobbying efforts, including with Jean-Louis Borloo, former French Minister of Ecology and Energy, and Jean-Marie Le Guen, former Secretary of State, both of whom became CEOs of Huawei France before and after.
Jean-François Dufour, president of DCAChine Analyse, the French industrial policy research office in China, told Radio 1 Europe that Huawei is not a state-run company, but it symbolizes the Chinese socialist market model. Although most of the company’s capital is in the hands of its shareholders, it is in fact funded by the Chinese government. If Huawei has been on a roll in the last 10 years, it’s because of the massive financial support it has received from China’s state-run banks. It is definitely not a power-independent company, it depends on its relationship with the government for its survival.
We can cooperate with Huawei, but in strategic industries such as communications, we give priority to European companies,” said French Foreign Trade Minister Franck Riester in an exclusive interview with Europe’s Radio 1 on the 25th.
The Brumat factory also caused another dispute, that is, the location of the factory is located in the area where there are many military institutions, such as the army intelligence branch. The government has said that this is not a problem as long as there is no risk to sovereignty. However, a defense expert told Europe First radio: “It is always suspicious when Chinese companies set up factories near military institutions, and the factories must be closely monitored.
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