Inside The Chinese Company America Can't Trust

Huawei is a global telecom giant with eyes on the U.S. market. Is it also a hidden channel for China's spies and saboteurs?

Dominic Nahr / Magnum for TIME

Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, a designated special economic zone that was the laboratory for China's experiments in economic liberalization.

At lunchtime in a company restaurant in Shenzhen, young engineers and programmers lounge over plates of grilled salmon, tap on their smartphones and chat in several languages. Like their counterparts in Silicon Valley and Bangalore, these ambitious Chinese 20-somethings, with degrees from top universities, are trying to build lucrative careers at one of their nation's biggest private companies, the telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies. In their sedate jackets and open-necked shirts, they don't look like a mortal threat to the U.S. But to politicians and cybersecurity experts in Washington, these kids are potential spies and saboteurs, and the telecom equipment they design...

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