US law enforcement is investigating work performed by Chinese company Huawei near US military bases.

Reports have noted a pattern of the company installing equipment on cell towers located close to military bases in rural areas, even if wasn’t profitable to do so.

This raises concerns that Huawei has the potential to use its equipment to intercept military communications.

First reported by US news channel CNN, an investigation by the FBI is now underway to determine whether the Chinese company is engaging in espionage. Authorities have warned that, from a technical perspective, the equipment could be used to intercept or disrupt communications.

This includes messages sent to and from the US Strategic Command, the body that oversees the country’s nuclear weapons.

According to the report, US federal government officials have been investigating land purchases by China-connected organisations near critical infrastructure since at least 2017.

As such, it is unclear if any data were actually intercepted from US military bases by Huawei in that time frame.

For its part, Huawei has denied that the equipment operates in the restricted spectrum used by US defence bodies.

The FBI investigation is examining Huawei’s activities “less from a technical lens and more from a business/financial view,” former senior FBI agent John Lenkart told CNN.

Huawei has been at the centre of a long-standing controversy over its relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. Back in 2020, a Parliament Defence Committee report warned that there was clear evidence of collusion between the two, in part through $75bn of subsidies, allowing it to undercut competitors.

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This has raised questions about the reliability of Huawei as a partner to build critical national infrastructure, such as 5G networks. The possibility that it might use its position to engage in intelligence, security, and intellectual property activities could pose a national security risk to countries like the UK and US.

This led the UK to ban Huawei from its 5G network, preventing companies from installing new equipment made by the firm and requiring them to replace existing kits by 2027.

The US has introduced similar legislation, preventing small telecoms companies from using Huawei equipment and removing the company’s kits from the country’s rural areas.

On top of this, sanctions and general economic turmoil in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic have taken a toll on the company’s bottom line. Huawei saw a major fall in revenue last year, just shy of 30%, though revenues have since recovered.

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