Over the past few months, the US government has launched an assault against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei for three publicly acknowledged reasons: Huawei, as the Justice Department alleges, was involved in sanctions-busting with Iran. The company also allegedly stole US technology and even awarded its employees bonuses to do so.

And third, because Huawei is a Chinese company and Chinese law mandates that it follow the orders of its security services, anything Huawei installs in equipment used by a US ally could pose a security risk to the United States.