Huawei will speak to the Australian public in order to redeem itself for the 5G network construction

As the raging conflict between Huawei and the US government continues, The Wall Street Journal is bringing our attention to yet another battlefield - the land of one of the US’ allies, Australia.

Reportedly, Huawei is to hold several town-hall meetings around the country in order to try to convince Australian citizens of its innocence and thus to attempt to reverse the government’s decision to exclude its gear from the construction of the Australian 5G network.

The Chinese company is going to organize four events in major Australian cities, including Canberra and Melbourne, and then organize more meetings in smaller cities, and it is said to offer waterfront views and wine to its guests. Huawei’s efforts are concentrated on winning the public in Australia and in New Zealand, where a similar ban faces the company.

In order to better make its case, Huawei has chosen Andy Purdy, the company’s head of cybersecurity in the US, who was once a top cybersecurity official in the administration of George W. Bush, to assist in the first town-hall meeting, alongside Nick Xenophon, former Australian lawmaker, who will be speaking at the events.

Nevertheless, the planned events are not getting a warm reception at the moment. Andrew Hastie, the chairman of Australia’s Committee on Intelligence and Security, even requested Xenophon’s registration as a foreign lobbyist. However, this request was dismissed given the fact that Huawei is a privately owned company and therefore is not subject to the country’s foreign influence rules.

Australia was once a valuable market for Huawei, before the ban on its gear. Now, Huawei’s ex chairman for Australia, John Lord, who resigned from his position back in February, as Huawei’s role in constructing the country’s 5G network decreased, said that the company needs to “reshape itself, restructure itself, focus on where it is in Australia now and move on from there”.